Poll tax -v- council tax : which is fairest?

[rubydazzler]

Nobody ever did explain what was unfair about it, beyond "I don't want to pay and I'm not going to."

I think most people agreed with that. I didn't know anyone at the time that thought it was unfair. It was actually cheaper than the 'rates' if you were a couple. The only people that 'suffered' were adult kids still living at home, and resented having to put their hand in their pocket,

 

I think a 'local income tax' might be unfair, if the only people that were paying were waged . Generally speaking, non working people use more resources than working people, and yet usually pay nothing.

 

Needs thinking about.

[Berberis]

One result of the poll tax was the unexpected win by the conservatives at the 1992. This was because one way of avoiding paying poll tax was to not register to vote. This meant lots of people who would have voted Labour handed the election to the conservatives as they could not vote.

 

What happened to all the tax that would have been paid on the old system? Did the protesters pay the difference between the rates and the poll tax or did they just pocket the entire tax bill effectively starving their local councils of funds?

[Wildcat]

I think most people agreed with that. I didn't know anyone at the time that thought it was unfair. It was actually cheaper than the 'rates' if you were a couple. The only people that 'suffered' were adult kids still living at home, and resented having to put their hand in their pocket,

 

I think a 'local income tax' might be unfair, if the only people that were paying were waged . Generally speaking, non working people use more resources than working people, and yet usually pay nothing.

 

Needs thinking about.

 

I remember my Poll Tax bill being around about a £1000 when I was a student at a time when my income was £2,4000 pa. of which over half was spent on my rent. The Poll tax would have wiped out everything I had to live on had I paid it because of the nature of the tenancy agreement. I had no choice but to not pay and move every time they caught up with me.

[Berberis]

Poll tax was fairer. Why should people with more expensive houses pay more for a service? Do the people who advocate this also think a person with a three bedroom house as apposes to a two bedroom should pay more for water, gas or electricity?

[Wildcat]

One result of the poll tax was the unexpected win by the conservatives at the 1992. This was because one way of avoiding paying poll tax was to not register to vote. This meant lots of people who would have voted Labour handed the election to the conservatives as they could not vote.

 

What happened to all the tax that would have been paid on the old system? Did the protesters pay the difference between the rates and the poll tax or did they just pocket the entire tax bill effectively starving their local councils of funds?

 

Thats true the Conservatives removed my right of a vote because I couldn't afford one.

 

I eventually paid some of it, around what it should have been but nothing like the stupid bill they sent me and were claiming off me. They eventually gave up trying to chase me for 10 times what everyone else paid.

[Wildcat]

Poll tax was fairer. Why should people with more expensive houses pay more for a service? Do the people who advocate this also think a person with a three bedroom house as apposes to a two bedroom should pay more for water, gas or electricity?

 

It may not be as precise as an income tax but at least when it is based on house prices the Duke of Devonshire is paying more than someone living in shared accomodation.

[rubydazzler]

I remember my Poll Tax bill being around about a £1000 when I was a student at a time when my income was £2,4000 pa. of which over half was spent on my rent. The Poll tax would have wiped out everything I had to live on had I paid it because of the nature of the tenancy agreement. I had no choice but to not pay and move every time they caught up with me.

Was that for the year? Are you sure? Why was it so much? I'm certain mine was a lot, lot less than that. It's so long ago now. Can't really remember.

 

I remember at the time that I did lodging for students and they moved on, presumably hoping to land me with their bills. Sadly, the silly things seemed to have forgotten that I had their home addresses, so I just set the collectors onto their parents instead. tch!

[Wildcat]

Was that for the year? Are you sure? Why was it so much? I'm certain mine was a lot, lot less than that. It's so long ago now. Can't really remember.

 

I remember at the time that I did lodging for students and they moved on, presumably hoping to land me with their bills. Sadly, the silly things seemed to have forgotten that I had their home addresses, so I just set the collectors onto their parents instead. tch!

 

It was that much because of the tenancy agreement.

 

Edit. Excuse my faulty memory but what I said is wrong. The reason I had to pay 5 times the rate of other students was because I wasn't entitled to the student reductions because the money from the sublet tenancy counted as income for the purposes of the tax. Resulting in me being charged 5 times more than people living in a house where the rent agreements were with every resident individually. After that point I couldn't claim a deduction because I wasn't paying. The bill I finally received was around a £1000 of which I paid about a fifth before they gave up on collecting it, which seems fair because that was what I should have owed. As you would expect I checked it out with the CAB and they couldn't advise me, they just said I was stuffed.

[Weazel2006]

work more, get more, pay more .....simples!

[rubydazzler]

@Wildcat, so in your and similar cases, it wasn't actually a 'poll' tax but the rates under the new name of the Community Charge? Very unfair, if so. Did you ever pay it?