It depends how you choose to define 'demonstrating'. It was certainly
very unpopular and a great many people took to the streets in
demonstrations against it.
A great many other people chose to demonstrate by way of withholding
payment which led to some being brought to Court while most preferred to
pay up at the last minute, having cost the councils thousands in legal
costs and tied the courts system up in knots.
The result, of course, is that it was done away with to be replaced with
the almost equally unpopular Council Tax, which will probably be itself
replaced with some form of localised income tax in the next few years.
For myself I didn't disagree with the principle of the Poll Tax, that
each adult in a household was personally responsible for paying their
share rather than it all be the responsibility of the householder. In
practise, however, there were too few provisions for those people who
were genuinely unable to pay it. Another fundamental flaw was that the
amount charged per person was often widely different depending upon
where you lived.
The Council Tax isn't really any better in that respect, penalising
people with larger houses when they may not in fact have the financial
backing to afford the bill. e.g. someone may have inherited a large
house but not have a proportionately sized income.
I'd have to check with my wife but I think we pay roughly £200 per month
for Council Tax. In return the council empties our rubbish bin and
lights the street outside. That's essentially it. Even in winter they
only spread the minimum of grit on the road and leisure facilities such
as a swimming pool are unavailable (although there's one being built in
the town fifteen miles away).
Regards
Gary
Pete Theisen wrote:
> Gary Sutherland wrote:
>
>> Quite a few, but not so many as participated in the anti-Iraq War
>> demonstrations.
>
>
> Hi Gary!
>
> A majority of the population was demonstrating against the poll tax?
>
> Regards,
>
> Pete
>
>
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©2005 Gary Sutherland |
