The poll tax riots were a series of riots in British towns and cities during protests against the Community Charge, introduced by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The poll tax riots took place in 1990. They occurred because the head of the conservative government at the time was Margret Thatcher and this new law meant that everyone over the age of 18 who lived alone, had to pay more tax.
This was to alter the way the tax system was used to fund the local government. The Charge proved extremely unpopular; while students and the registered unemployed had to pay 20%, some large families occupying relatively small houses saw their charges go up considerably, and the tax was thus accused of saving the rich money and moving the expenses onto the poor.
Many students revolted and about 200,000 turned up and did not support thatchers introduction of the poll tax.
The 1980s saw a period of general confrontation between central government and Labour-controlled local authorities, which eventually led to the abolition of theGreater London Council and the six metropolitan county councils. This is another reason why the youth rebelled against the government because there was already conflict there, this then added fuel to the fire. the government stood for the conservative ideology which stood for themselves and funding big businesses and not doing a lot for the poor. However, the labour government which was mostly supported by the youth, were not in power yet, they stood for helping the poor and funding small businesses. movements such as the grunge scene, hip hop and illegal raves spread across the UK this severely went against the classical norms of the teens' parents who stood for classic music and how to present yourself properly.
what fulled most of these people is that Thatcher didn't even pay her own tax that she introduced and she was about to get a fine for not paying.
Rightly so, the majority of the UK were not too pleased and continued to riot. The abolishment of the tax was introduced in 1992 and then the council tax came in.
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