Alistair Darling to raise income tax rate for top earners

[Doggy Styles]

I disagree that rates were more complex - I agree politics did for the Poll Tax but Thatcher wasn't persuaded by idealogy - the problem was that councils and courts couldn't keep pace with non payers - if that ain't red tape what is?

Of course the old rates system was more complex. In those days your bill was individualised, calculated from a complex number of factors such as the number of rooms, garages, toilets and even garage inspection pits (I had one once) you had in the dwelling.

On the other hand, the poll tax for everyone was the same amount, a straight fraction of the the amount the council wanted to collect. That couldn't really be any simpler.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Of course the old rates system was more complex. .........
On the other hand, ..... That couldn't really be any simpler.

But houses (mostly) don't move about and who owns them is recorded already. The poll tax required a whole series of l new local databases of where everyone lived and needed to be kept updated with every move they made and whether they had paid up. No sane person could see that as areduction in red tape