Thatcher Ignored Poll Tax Warnings

[Gromit]

Archives opened under the 30 year rule suggest that TGL ignored warnings that the poll tax was unworkable.

// However, the opened archives also reveal a memo penned by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson, who said the measure would be "unworkable" and "politically catastrophic".

"The biggest gainers will be the better-off households in high rateable value properties, the losers would be poorer households, particularly larger ones," he wrote. //

She ignored that good advice and led to her ousting. Ah well...

[jno]

the lady was not for turning.

[Postdog]

Hope she's turning now.

[ChillDoubt]

But the general concensus subsequently was that it was fair, so not really sure what the story is about.
The BBC hardly even mention it, they're more pre-occupied with the changes in education she mooted:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30625941

[Buenchico]

The Community Charge (aka Poll Tax) was a much fairer system of taxation than Council Tax, in that it was paid by each person, rather than by each household and urgently needs to be re-introduced.

However I fully accept that the way it worked wasn't fully thought through (or, indeed, hardly thought through at all) in respect of the way that it affected those on low incomes. When it's re-introduced (as must surely come) a great deal more thought needs to be put into it.

[Slapshot]

More interesting for us North of the border is the fact that that clown Younger begged for Scotland to be the guinea Pig

[Old_Geezer]

I know of few who thought it was fair, and personally know no one. It didn't take into account ability to pay nor income. That said, property tax is also unfair.

[andy-hughes]

My perception of Mrs Thatcher is that she always understood opposition, but she never understood dissent.

Someone completely disagreeing with her was seen as a valid position, but anyone partly disagreeing with her - especially anyone in her cabinet - was perceived as disloyal.

Mrs Thatcher came to see dissent as disrespect, and it ultimately cost her the job she so loved.

[youngmafbog]

So how is council tax fair then?

The problem with poll tax (like the spare room tax) is that it was implemented with holes the left wing councils could exploit. Which obviously, not being stupid, they did.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing though isn't it.

[ludwig]

I think that's a pretty good summary andy re loyalty, but I think her understanding of opposition can be summarised simply as 'someone holding the incorrect view'. I don't think she ever considered there was possibility she might have been wrong about anything.

[andy-hughes]

Indeed Ludwig - and I think history shows that she became ever more intransigent with the passing of time, to a final point where it was impossible to reason with her about anything - and again as history shows, she paid the price for that approach.

It is a lesson which thus far no party leader has repeated.

[youngmafbog]

//It is a lesson which thus far no party leader has repeated. //

Hmmm, Brown had a pretty good go, and Blair, or at least his spin doctors representing him were not far behind too. Cameron/Clegg have had no choice, it being a coalition.

It's a problem that befalls most leaders that are in place too long.

[Zacs-Master]

We seem to be back to the megalomaniacs as leaders thread. Power corrupts.

[sp1814]

What does TGL stand for?

[Zacs-Master]

The Great Lady.

[ToraToraTora]

Yes she did because it was a good system, better than the current mess. The problem as that hoards of the great unwashed discovered that, horror of horrors, they were going to have to contribute to local funding, oh dear! yes gromit it did contribute to her downfall mainly because of the disgusting gutless popinjays she had in her midst. I would prefer Community charge today and I think a lot of asset rich pensioners would too.

[anotheoldgit]

Totally agree, why should a person or even a couple pay the same council tax as a house where they are a number of adults living in a residence?

[Quizmonster]

Sp and Zacs, I'm sure the letters TGL might provide you with endless amusement, thinking of interpretations vastly more apt than the one Thatcher-fans choose!

[woofgang]

Nige Baby missed out the other gainers who would have been older people living in the family home once the family have flown the nest. Councils can make an allowance for this but they still pay over the odds. I agree that payment per adult person is a much fairer way of funding services.
Wasn't the campaign against it carefully organised rather than the "grass roots reaction" it pretended to be?

[Zacs-Master]

I had my fun Quiz. I can't see any alternatives thus far.

[ummmm]

I was under 18 when the poll tax was introduced. Was it the same amount for everyone regardless of earnings?