your home is next

[zeitghost]

Aaaaaaaaah!

The poll tax.

That was a real riot.

[zeitghost]

Particularly since everyone over 18 had to pay it...

[AtW]

Particularly since everyone over 18 had to pay it...

Does not sound unreasonable to me. What were the amounts and what was before poll tax?

[threaded]

AtW: The problem was that Maggie was coming to the end of her premiership and the lefties grabbed onto the "community charge" renaming it "poll tax" as a way to oust her.

[zeitghost]

I seem to remember it was about £250 per head per annum (or anum) around here.

Don't know what the rates were just prior to that though, since I wasn't paying them at the time.

Perhaps I shall investigate further...

[zeitghost]

Apparently students don't pay council tax... is that right?

[AtW]

Apparently students don't pay council tax... is that right?

Only if all adults in the house are students -- at least this was the case a few years ago, don't think they relaxed it even though I think I heard this was done in London.

[hyperD]

Looking at the breakdown of my council tax, the biggest offender is:

Housing Benefits Granted

swiftly followed by

Council Tax Benefits Granted.

A total of 40% of the council capital budget and the items that have experienced the biggest increase over the last few years. Looking at the increase in the tribes of pikeys and chavs that have been shoehorned in, I can guess why these figures will grow at an exponential rate.

And the council blame the rises on the government not increasing the spending allowance enough.

It's obvious to those, without a giro and a pregnant 'ho' called Chardonay [sic], that this is unsustainable.

[TwoWolves]

This mess is the result of an overly
zealous welfare state. By over-taxing
the middle-classes they are having
smaller families while those on benefit
are encouraged to continue to have
large families. The children of which
tend more to end up in the same
state dependent position.

Its basic social/economic logic really
and in the end the country will be full
of unemployable under-class.

[PRC1964]

Not that I read the Sun, but they carried this story:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005380134,00.html

The best bit is:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOTTO chiefs awarded £50,000 to promote ‘gipsy culture’ in Hampshire schools — after snubbing Falklands heroes who need a new refuge.

The county council say their scheme is an “opportunity to highlight the many positive aspects of the gipsy community”.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Given that the lottery normally only fund part of these kind of schemes, we can assume that the rest is funded from the council tax.

Glad I don't live in Hampshire.