The Poll Tax
The poll tax was a system of taxation that was introduced by Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and her government in order to make local council finance fairer and more accountable, although it backfired and in result, caused riots and a rebellion in the Conservative party.
The ‘poll tax’ was a fixed tax per adult resident, although there was a reduction for poorer people, for the services provided in their community. This resulted in major complicated, administrative issues for local governments as they had to identify every person in a household - particularly shared or student households, or those not on the electoral register.
In principle, the tax seemed fairly simple, however it was more complex than that - this was revealed when cabinet files were released from 1989 and 1990, in which Thatcher was very much involved in.
On the build up to the tax was due to be introduced, riots outbroke and the most memorable one was in London on 31 March 1990. More than 200,000 protesters filled Whitehall and Trafalgar Square and resulted in over 100 police officers injured.
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