General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

The original Poll Tax or as it was called the "Community Charge" was a good idea, because at the time the domestic rates bill on a two up two down terraced type of house in Wigan was about £180 per year, and the idea was that instead of charging the house 'rates' they would charge the people living inside the house instead, and the charge in somewhere like Wigan would have been about £80 a year, so a single person living in a property would have benefitted with a much lower annual bill, than the 'rates' but if four adults were living in a property, then the council would receive around about £320 a year from the previously described property, rather than just the £180 for the 'rates' bill, under the notion that four adults of varying ages, required more council care, than a single person requires, as in they create more rubbish, they need more policing, they need more library services, they need more leisure services, swimming pools etc etc etc

A much fairer system

BUT

Thanks to the Labour Party of the time, the "Community Charge" scheme was ruined, because the councils could set their own amount of Community Charge and the Labour Councils, instead of bringing in a charge of something like £80 a year, the charge was more like £300 per year, so a house which had been charged £80 a year under the domestic rates system, a four adult house was then charged collectively £1200 a year

So it was your fault Whupsy, yoo and your precious Labour Party (of the time) ruined the 'Community Charge' and I think we are NOW all far worse off because it was politically 'sabotaged' by the Labour Party