Britain Scraps a Thatcher Pet, Hated Poll Tax

The British government said Thursday it is dropping the hated poll tax, shedding a pet policy of Margaret Thatcher that had become an electoral millstone for her successor, Prime Minister John Major.

Environment Minister Michael Heseltine was given a tumultuous reception in Parliament when he announced that the tax, which prompted riots across England after its imposition last year, is being abandoned.

“The public has not been persuaded that the charge is fair,” Heseltine said.

In place of the levy, a head tax to fund local services, Heseltine said the government plans to introduce by 1993 a hybrid tax based on property values and the number of adults in each household. He gave no details, but promised a consultative paper by the end of the month.

This was seen as a concession to Conservatives who still back the Thatcher policy, including its principle that everyone who uses local services should pay something toward their cost.

Opposition politicians accused the government of making a humiliating turnabout.

“We have just heard the most complete capitulation, the most startling U-turn, and the most shameless abandonment of consistency and principle in modern political history,” declared Labor Party spokesman Bryan Gould.

Anger caused by the tax, officially called the Community Charge, had threatened the Conservative Party’s chances of winning a general election that it must call by July of next year. Heseltine’s announcement could revive speculation that Major, who succeeded Thatcher in November, might feel confident enough to call the election as early as this June.

The decision on the poll tax was part of a fundamental review of the whole structure of local government started when Major took over after 11 years of Thatcher’s rule.

The poll tax was attacked for being difficult and expensive to collect and failing to take into account the ability to pay.

Heseltine proposes to shift much of the cost of local services, including some education costs, to the central government.

Education Secretary Kenneth Clarke told Parliament that colleges and preparatory schools will now be paid out of central rather than local funds.