On 08/04/2013 17:32, Steve Firth wrote:
Mark wrote:
On Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:49:31 +0100, Andy Cap
wrote:

On 08/04/13 13:41, bm wrote:


Dead right, lets have more poll tax.
YMBFJ


Nothing wrong with the Poll tax, it was just that it dragged in a lot of
young earners who get their services for free and had loud voices. The
Council tax is really unfair to people living on their own.

The Poll Tax was unfair on larger households.

I can see why the Poll Tax was popular in some circles though since it
shifted taxation from the rich to the poor.

Err no it didn't. It put the tax onto the middle classes in the main. The
greater part of the protestors seemed to be the Tarquins, Jessicas and
Annabelles who used to pay nothing because daddy paid the rates who
suddenly had to pay a (fairly minor) tax.


I like this notion of a 'new' middle class who will tend to vote against
their own interests, for a common good. Obviously, exceptions exist:

At the time I was hoping for local income tax as I used to pay in
Switzerland, even though this would have affected me more than the poll tax
did. My payments quadrupled under the poll tax because wife & kids refused
to pay "on principle[1]". So I had to pay as "head of household".


Brilliant!

[1] I think the principle was that they were too mean to pay it. It was the
idea of going after the "head of household" that got me. I can't afford to
get a criminal record so I had to pay. If they had made the individual
responsible I would have left the kids to make their own decision.


Gets better!!

Rob