THE TaxPayers’ Alliance is a funny old organisation.

Its reason for existence is to ‘fight to reform taxes, reduce spending and protect taxpayers’ but despite using the word alliance in its name, it’s hard to see who exactly is allied to it.

The group was founded in 2004 by Matthew Elliott and Andrew Allum, and now (according to its own publicity) has 80,000 supporters.

That being said, I’ve never met any of its supporters.

A little research shows it grew from ‘a group of libertarian Conservatives’, frustrated by what they saw as the party’s decision to ditch its traditional tax cutting message.

At the time, according to the fount of all knowledge Wikipedia, the Conservative Party felt the need to match the Labour Party’s spending plans, and the TPA aimed to represent, in the words of founder Matthew Elliott, those ‘who want to have lower taxes and lower spending’.

While the TPA says it doesn’t have any political alliances, it seems clear that a lot of its campaigns seem aligned to old-school Tory policies.

The TPA also has a clear strategy to get its message out, using short, snappy surveys that prove its point.

Usually the stuff they send me goes straight in the bin.

But every so often, one of the surveys hits the spot and resonates with me and this week’s offering was a classic example.

The TPA claims a new piece of research has shown councils in England ‘have resorted to imposing stealth taxes on residents by charging more for services such as waste collection and bridge tolls’.

In an analysis of more than 22 services, the TPA has found that some saw a reduction in fees. However, in some of the most visible services, charges and fees have rocketed.

Sales, fees and charges that have increased for residents include housing, environmental and regulatory services and planning. This includes services such as bin collections and planning applications.

Without doing extensive research, I can’t say whether or not Warrington Council has imposed these ‘stealth taxes’ across the board.

But there is no doubt we have been faced by some of them, including imposing a £30 charge to have your garden waste collected.

I put my hand in my pocket and paid up for the council to collect my green waste but it does grate to suddenly have to start paying for something we have had free for so long.

And while I accept the sudden appearance of Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras on some of the town’s bus lane routes may well have been prompted by a desire to ease traffic congestion, I’m also pretty certain the cash to be raised from the £60 fine per transgressing driver will not have gone unnoticed by the money men at the town hall.

TaxPayers’ Alliance chief executive John O’Connell (a man I wouldn’t normally find myself agreeing with) had made a reasonable point when he said: “Councils should ensure that they cut out all wasteful spending before asking taxpayers to pay big fees on top of their council tax bill.”

Has Warrington put up its prices for cemetery, cremation and mortuary services or put up its prices for trade waste?

I don’t know but I would be happy to find out if anyone can let me know.

And also let me know if you come across any other ‘stealth’ rises, maybe from organisations that provide services on behalf of the council.

  •  SOMETIMES you read something that makes you shake your head in amazement and this is one of those.

The head teacher at King’s Leadership Academy has gone public and said the school is like Eton College but without the £45,000 a year fees.

Shane Ierston compared the Woolston free school to Eton after the GCSE results were published, revealing only one free school performed better than King’s Leadership Academy.

Apparently extra curricular activities, such as fencing, a longer school day and public speaking make all the difference, giving a grammar-school style education.

Well done to Mr Ierston, his staff and pupils but Eton? Really?