The Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance (ATA) is a taxpayer group whose stated mission is "to transform Australia into low-tax,

small-government Libertarian conservatism, also referred to as conservative libertarianism and, more rarely, ''conservatarianism'', is a political and social philosophy that combines conservatism and libertarianism, representing the libertarian wing of conser ...

market-based economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand. The major characteristic of a market ...

Projects

Founded in 2012, the ATA partners with a variety of organizations to advance its goals. As of 2019, it counts 75,000 members. In 2017, ATA coordinated an international coalition to abolish a goods and service tax levied on online purchases. Members of the coalition included

Americans for Tax Reform Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) is a politically conservative U.S. advocacy group whose stated goal is "a system in which taxes are simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than they are today." According to ATR, "The government's power to contr ...

(the U.S.), the

Canadian Taxpayers Federation The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF; ) is a federally incorporated, non-profit organization in Canada. It describes itself as a taxpayers advocacy group, and the organization advocates lower taxes, less waste, and an increase in government ...

(Canada), and

the Freedom Association The Freedom Association (TFA) is a pressure group in the United Kingdom that describes itself as "a non-partisan, classically liberal campaign group", which has links to the Conservative Party and UK Independence Party (UKIP). TFA was founded ...

(the U.K.), among other groups. Australia’s Department of the Treasury and the

Productivity Commission The Productivity Commission (PC) is the Australian Government's principal review and advisory body on microeconomic policy, regulation and a range of other social and environmental issues. The PC was created as an independent authority by th ...

invited ATA to submit a report on this issue. Also in 2017, ATA co-founded Legalise Vaping Australia (LVA), an

advocacy group Advocacy groups, also known as lobby groups, interest groups, special interest groups, pressure groups, or public associations, use various forms of advocacy or lobbying to influence public opinion and ultimately public policy. They play an impor ...

to reform laws about vaping and e-cigarettes across Australia. LVA’s efforts have been profiled in media such as

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...

, ABC, and

the Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

. ATA has also taken an active role in the

carbon tax A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions from producing goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the hidden Social cost of carbon, social costs of carbon emissions. They are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emis ...

debate. This campaign arose from Stop Gillard’s Carbon Tax, a project of Tim Andrews, ATA’s founder. The Spectator called Andrews “one of the masterminds behind the anti-carbon-tax protests that have Labor’s hold on government on tenterhooks.”

Public criticism

Some media attention has focused on potential ties to the American billionaire

Koch Brothers The Koch family ( ) is an American family engaged in business, best known for their political activities in the Koch network and their control of Koch Inc, the 2nd largest privately owned company in the United States (with 2019 revenues of $ ...

, due to the past affiliations of board members of the ATA, as well as claims the ATA is part of a “network of organisations that has close links to foreign backed political lobby groups”.

Conferences

Since 2012, together with the Australian Libertarian Society, ATA has organized the annual Friedman Conference. Described by

David Leyonhjelm David Ean Leyonhjelm ( "lion-helm"; born 1 April 1952) is an Australian former politician. He was a Senator for New South Wales, representing the Liberal Democratic Party from 2014 to 2019. Having been elected at the 2013 federal election, he ...

, a leader of the Liberal Democratic Party in the Senate, as the biggest libertarian-oriented event in the Asia Pacific region, the conference convenes groups such as the

Atlas Network Atlas Network, formerly known as Atlas Economic Research Foundation, is a non-governmental, non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States that provides training, networking, and grants for libertarian, free-market, and Conserva ...

, the

Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch ...

, and the

Institute of Public Affairs The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) is a conservative non-profit free market public policy think tank, Political links and networking The IPA Victoria was founded during World War II by businessmen in response to the feared growing power of ...

, along with speakers such as

Grover Norquist Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and anti-tax advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primary pro ...

John Fund John H. Fund (born April 8, 1957) is an American political journalist. He is currently the national-affairs reporter for National Review Online and a senior editor at '' The American Spectator''. Life and career Fund was born in Tucson, Arizona ...

, and

Mark Latham Mark William Latham (; born 28 February 1961) is an Australian politician and media commentator who is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. He previously served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Leader of the ...

. In 2019, ATA organized the World Taxpayer Conference. The conference’s board of directors includes representatives from groups such as the

National Taxpayers Union The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) is a fiscally conservative taxpayer advocacy organization and taxpayers union in the United States, founded in 1977 by James Dale Davidson. NTU says that it is the oldest taxpayer advocacy organization in t ...

, the

TaxPayers’ Alliance The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) is a pressure group in the United Kingdom which was formed in 2004 to campaign for a low-tax society. The group had about 18,000 registered supporters as of 2008 and claimed to have 55,000 by September 2010. Howeve ...

, and the

Taxpayers Protection Alliance The Taxpayers Protection Alliance is a non-profit advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. The group monitors federal spending and issues reports, research, and analyses on spending and taxation it believes to be in excess. History The Taxpaye ...

, several of which receive funding from the

Koch family The Koch family ( ) is an American family engaged in business, best known for their political activities in the Koch network and their control of Koch Inc, the 2nd largest privately owned company in the United States (with 2019 revenues of $1 ...

. On this basis,

the Australian Financial Review The ''Australian Financial Review'' (''AFR'') is an Australian compact daily newspaper with a focus on business, politics and economic affairs. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and has been published continuously since its foun ...

called the ATA the “Koch brothers’ new Australian friends.”

Political positions

ATA is best known for its involvement in the campaign to repeal Australia’s carbon tax. ATA also lobbies for

open government Open government is the governing doctrine which maintains that citizens have the right to access the documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public oversight. In its broadest construction, it opposes reason of state a ...

. In 2019, it pressured the Commonwealth to launch a transparency website, where all federal bodies must publish their annual reports. ATA also supports the legalization of

electronic cigarette An electronic cigarette (e-cigarette), or vape, is a device that simulates smoking. It consists of an atomizer, a power source such as a battery, and a container such as a cartridge or tank. Instead of smoke, the user inhales vapor. As such ...

References

{{Reflist Taxpayer groups Political advocacy groups in Australia Libertarianism in Australia