what is poll tax?

Answer 1

old name for council tax

Answer 2

In short its the old equivilant for council tax.

In long, a poll tax, head tax, or capitation is a tax of a uniform, fixed amount per individual (as opposed to a percentage of income). Such taxes were important sources of revenue for many countries into the 19th century, but this is no longer the case. There are several famous cases of poll taxes in history, notably a tax formerly required for voting in parts of the United States that was often designed to disenfranchise African Americans, Native Americans, and whites of non-British descent, as well as two taxes levied by John of Gaunt and Margaret Thatcher in the fourteenth and twentieth centuries respectively.

The word poll is an English word that once meant "head", hence the name poll tax for a per-person tax. However, in the United States, the term has come to be used almost exclusively for a fixed tax applied to voting. Since "going to the polls" is a common idiom for voting (deriving, of course, from the fact that early voting involved head-counts), a new folk etymology has supplanted common knowledge of the phrase's true origins in America.

Answer 3

Funny concept tried by the Conservatives.

Local Services (Council, Dustmen, Parks, Libraries etc) are paid for by taxing House owners - and the higher the value of the House, the more you paid. In the old days only rich people owned houses, so that was OK.

These days it's not just rich people that own houses & when the Conservatives were elected they noted that the Local Councils were mainly elected by people who didn't actually pay anything towards the running of those Councils. So Maggie decided that everyone over 18 should be forced to pay something.

Of course since this resulted in a LOT more people being asked to pay for something they used to get 'for free' - and it led to a lot of resistance. Especially amongst the 18-20 year old students ... i.e. the one group with enough time on their hands to mount massive street demonstrations...

Needless to say, this stupid idea (that people should pay for something they used to get 'for free') was soon dropped as unworkable.

Answer 4

Usually, a poll tax covers the expenses of general elections.

Answer 5

Poll Tax, also known as Community Charge, was introduced in April 1990 to replace General Rates and was itself replaced in April 1993 with Council Tax

To confuse matters more I still tend to call it "rates"
Use this link to find out all about it :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/poll_tax...

Answer 6

it was a maggie (thatcher) tax.she taxed everyone over the age of 18 . and caused no end of problems for herself and her government

Answer 7

there is no such thing as poll tax

Answer 8

an old way of fleecing households

Answer 9

A fee you have to pay for being polish ;-)