What was the poll tax and why did Margaret Thatcher’s policy start riots in Scotland?
AN astonishing 250,000 Scots were served summary warrants in what was the defining moment in Scotland’s war with Margaret Thatcher’s hated poll tax.
It was the most brutal twist in the conflict which defined the Tory Prime Minister's reign and ultimately led to her fall from power.
On January 15 1990 those warrants were issued by Strathclyde Regional Council - then the country’s largest local authority - and anyone who ignored them suffered the humiliation of a warrant sale in their own home.
That meant sheriffs’ officers coming into your house to value your belongings before arranging a public sale of those goods.
THE COMMUNITY CHARGE
The tax, known as the ‘Community Charge’, had been introduced in Scotland on April 1, 1989, to replace domestic rates, which had been based on the rentable value of your house and not your ability to pay.
Scuffles often broke out as activists tried to prevent sheriffs' officers entering homes and led to a young Tommy Sheridan - who went on to become an MSP - rising to prominence for the first time.
Instead of a house rate, it was a people rate with a single flat-rate per-capita tax on every adult.
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A working class household with five adults would pay five times as much as a company director who lived alone on the street.
Not only was it seen as massively unfair against the poor, a decision was made to introduce the tax in Scotland one full year before England and Wales, causing Scotland to be referred to as Thatcher’s guinea pig.
The warning signs were there. Thatcher was guest of honour at the 1988 Scottish Cup final between Celtic and Dundee Utd when the whole of Hampden Park showed her red cards and chanted against her and the forthcoming tax.
In March 1989, 50,000 people from all sections of the working class and from across Scotland marched in the centre of Glasgow.
Scotland became the first battle ground in the resistance and it was north of the border that the national anti-poll tax movement went about stopping bailiffs and fighting court cases.
Why did Margaret Thatcher close the mines?
The poll tax was supposed to make local council finance more accountable but instead it brought about civil disobedience and riots not seen in this country for years.
On November 22, 1990, Thatcher announced she was resigning as Prime Minister after more than a decade in office.
John Major, her successor as leader of the conservative party, quickly announced that he would abolish the poll tax.
It was replaced by the council tax in April 1993 - a tax which is based on banded property valuation of houses - which remains in place to this day.
In 2014, then First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond announced plans to stop councils collecting poll tax debt, stating: “All poll tax debt would be written off”.
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