The Poll Tax
This was one of the most significant systems put in place due to the subsequent reactions. One of the factors contributing to the outrage was the change from the rates system, which had been in place since the seventeenth century. The rates system could be described as "a levy on property, which in modern times saw each taxpayer paying a rate based on the estimated rental value of their home". This change came due to Thatcher's promise of a change in systems from the unpopular rates system, which many Conservative voters disliked.
Students and registered unemployed, in this new system, had to pay twenty percent whilst some large families who were in relatively small houses had to deal with charges going up. This made it appear to many that the new system was beneficial to the rich and their prosperity was built on the back of some of society's more vulnerable members. As a result, somewhere between one hundred and eighty thousand to two hundred and fifty thousand protestors turned up at Trafalgar Square to protest in the form of a peaceful march.
Homelessness in the Nineties
House price inflation, rising unemployment, general increase in the number of people with drink, ban on sixteen and seventeen year olds claiming house benefits, compounding issues surrounding mental health and substance abuse were all contributing factors to another rise in homelessness throughout the eighties and nineties. There were moves made to cause a decrease in the amount of people becoming homeless, such as the Rough Sleepers and Homeless Mentally Ill initiatives launched to fund more beds and more services.
The Recession
During nineteen ninety-one through ninety-two, the UK saw a recession caused by high interest rates, plummeting house prices and the overvalued exchange rate. Britain's economy continued to grow longer than many of its peers, who mostly began to experience hardships during nineteen eighty-nine, whereas Britain's recession began in nineteen ninety.
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