New Taxpayers’ Alliance to be a “do tank” in the drive for smaller government
The Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance, a new activist taxpayer body that says it will be a “do tank” rather than a “think tank”, is set to launch in Sydney next week.
The ATA says that “Australians pay too much tax, entrepreneurs and small businesses – the driving force of our economy – are crippled by over-regulation, and tax dollars are wasted by all levels of government.
“Our overall tax legislation runs for thousands of pages, is impossible for any one person to comprehend, and this complexity significantly hinders business development.
“Billions of dollars a year in public expenditure is wasted, destroying economic wealth and crowding out the private sector. Furthermore, a growing bureaucracy and the relentless increasing intervention by government distorting the market has led to a sclerotic economic climate by crowding out genuine entrepreneurs.”
The Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance is positioning itself as “an innovative grassroots activist body, dedicated to fighting Australia’s crippling levels of taxation, over-regulation, and government waste”.
The ATA’s goal is to shift Australian political debate in a small government direction.
The ATA says that small business is being hit hardest – “by anti-growth policies at both a Federal and State level, and KPMG has rated Australia as the 2nd most expensive place to do business in the world.”
Timothy Andrews is the ATA’s executive director and the advisory board includes The Spectator Australia editor Tom Switzer, the Menzies Research Centre’s Julian Leeser and leading advocate for the self-employed and independent contractors Ken Phillips.
More information about the ATA is available here.
The Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance will launch formally in Sydney on 1 May.
