Friday 18 March 2005

Perth: a fair city?

I always thought that the poll tax was a reasonable attempt at fairness in local government finance. Of course, real fairness would necessitate the mass privatisation of town hall activity.

A Perth & Kinross councillor has been accused of heresy:

Deputy administration leader Councillor Willie Wilson responded by saying he was amazed that Mr Stewart “just about advocated the return of the poll tax.”

He added, “The poll tax was an absolute disaster and that was an incredible statement to make. There were riots in the streets, evasion, and people went off the electoral roll.

So some people evaded the poll tax and "went off the electoral roll". Good: why should they enjoy representation without taxation? The sooner most local government functions are privatised the better and then we can all pay our way - fairly.

1 comment:

David Farrer said...

Comments made on previous template:

Ceartas
I always thought that the poll tax was a reasonable attempt at fairness in local government finance. 
 
I always thought that if you ate grass, you'd pish milk.

22 March 2005, 01:15:15 GMT
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Neil Craig
I suspect the thought of say 5% of the poorest people (since a poll tax obviusly affects them most) going off the electoral role was not an adverse consideration for Thatcher.

18 March 2005, 19:24:55 GMT
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Andrew Ian Dodge
Um, there is no such thing as a "good" tax.

18 March 2005, 14:35:36 GMT
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Shuggy
I always thought that the poll tax was a reasonable attempt at fairness in local government finance. 
 
You did? Why? It broke the first rule of fiscal policy: a tax is only any good if you can collect it.

18 March 2005, 13:04:56 GMT