# General > Politics >  Poll Tax the great divide

## BetterTogether

Recently we have seen a rare move by Holyrood those who failed to pay the Poll Tax whilst it was applied have been allowed to effectively get away with it and been given a pardon from those trying to collect it. Now to many this may seem as a fair and righteous act against a tax which was widely unpopular, but the problem isnt in how fair or unfair the tax was this has now become a moot point and the tax system has changed. Where the problem arises is in how the people of Scotland are treated. If this is considered as a fair and righteous act by the Scottish Government and those not paying are allowed a free pardon how should those who did pay be treated. Surely it then becomes unfair that all those who duly paid this tax have now been discriminated against by the incumbent government and should in the act of fairness be given a full and unconditional rebate of the monies paid. How else is Scotland to be seen as a fair society if we are not all treated equally under the eyes of the law and revenue.

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## Fulmar

I agree but don't hold my breath over a refund!

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## rob murray

> Recently we have seen a rare move by Holyrood those who failed to pay the Poll Tax whilst it was applied have been allowed to effectively get away with it and been given a pardon from those trying to collect it. Now to many this may seem as a fair and righteous act against a tax which was widely unpopular, but the problem isnt in how fair or unfair the tax was this has now become a moot point and the tax system has changed. Where the problem arises is in how the people of Scotland are treated. If this is considered as a fair and righteous act by the Scottish Government and those not paying are allowed a free pardon how should those who did pay be treated. Surely it then becomes unfair that all those who duly paid this tax have now been discriminated against by the incumbent government and should in the act of fairness be given a full and unconditional rebate of the monies paid. How else is Scotland to be seen as a fair society if we are not all treated equally under the eyes of the law and revenue.


Pardons = buying votes.....

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## dozy

> Pardons = buying votes.....


My don't you ask King Cameron for a refund, surely he would honour that as part of the Unionist Party Vow. I would take it that all the better together unionist would be first in line. Emails to King Cameron and Mister Bean ( GB) money for votes .

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## rob murray

> My don't you ask King Cameron for a refund, surely he would honour that as part of the Unionist Party Vow. I would take it that all the better together unionist would be first in line. Emails to King Cameron and Mister Bean ( GB) money for votes .


Mister Bean....SNP is once again buying votes......you cannot deny that...ok you could   in your world no is yes

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## davth

As far as I understand it taxation is not a devolved power.Therefore how could salmond issue a pardon to these tax evading scumbags?Surely HMRC can still pursue the outstanding tax.

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## theone

> As far as I understand it taxation is not a devolved power.Therefore how could salmond issue a pardon to these tax evading scumbags?Surely HMRC can still pursue the outstanding tax.


HMRC do not collect council tax. Local councils do.

One of the reasons it was originally known as the 'poll tax' was because it was based on the electoral register. You cannot vote if not on the register, so effectively you were taxed to go to the 'poll'.

A lot of people avoided paying poll/council tax for years by not registering themselves on the electoral register.

This of course changed when they wanted to vote in the independence referendum. People who had been living under the radar for years were suddenly known to the councils, and the councils were entitled to claim back money due.

Salmond told the councils not to persue the money. He did this in the belief that most militant poll tax avoiders would probably be yes voters and so help his cause.

Ironic when council services are being cut, he was blaming Westminster at the same time as effectivly writing off millions of pounds they were legally due.

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## cptdodger

> A lot of people avoided paying poll/council tax for years by not registering themselves on the electoral register.


I do'nt know the answer to this, but surely that would only be homeowners that got away with that. If you have a council house you have to put on a form, the names of the people residing in the house, I thought they passed that on to the people that are in charge of collecting council tax. I might be wrong though.

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## rob murray

> HMRC do not collect council tax. Local councils do.
> 
> One of the reasons it was originally known as the 'poll tax' was because it was based on the electoral register. You cannot vote if not on the register, so effectively you were taxed to go to the 'poll'.
> 
> A lot of people avoided paying poll/council tax for years by not registering themselves on the electoral register.
> 
> This of course changed when they wanted to vote in the independence referendum. People who had been living under the radar for years were suddenly known to the councils, and the councils were entitled to claim back money due.
> 
> Salmond told the councils not to persue the money. He did this in the belief that most militant poll tax avoiders would probably be yes voters and so help his cause.
> ...


Maybe he can pay us all back the dough we honestly paid then

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## theone

> I do'nt know the answer to this, but surely that would only be homeowners that got away with that. If you have a council house you have to put on a form, the names of the people residing in the house, I thought they passed that on to the people that are in charge of collecting council tax. I might be wrong though.


Yes, there is a form to complete in which you are supposed to declare who stays in a council house. But people can lie and break the rule in the same way that they could ignore the 'legally required electoral declaration' form that is sent to every house in the UK every couple of years.

Also, a large amount of people rent houses privately or from associations like albyn or pentland housing. Companies with no ties to the council or council tax collection.

As for the council housing dept telling the tax dept who lives where, I'm not sure. But  I imagine there was and is privacy rules preventing people's information being passed around between departments willy nilly.

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## theone

> Maybe he can pay us all back the dough we honestly paid then


That's the root of the discussion.

Those who never paid a penny for over a decade are forgiven, whilst those who paid, sometimes struggled to pay, are given a big slap in face.

Salmond's view is that this tax avoidance was 'in the past' or 'historical' so forgivable and not worth investigating. I wonder if he has the same view on the Rolf Harris and Jimmy Saville cases.

Whatever your political views, there is very little defence for this policy to blatantly reward law breakers and buy their votes. Shame on the SNP.

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## cptdodger

> As for the council housing dept telling the tax dept who lives where, I'm not sure. But  I imagine there was and is privacy rules preventing people's information being passed around between departments willy nilly.


You do have a point, I had twenty one years of misery dealing with the Child Support Agency, which as far as I was concerned was a Government agency, that's how it started out anyway, and I was with it from day one. I had all my ex husband's details from his address to his place of work, but because I was not claiming benefits he was not chased. I eventually got the money I was owed (because I did'nt give up) by then my "children" were 31 and 26. Had they spoken to other depts within the DWP, it would have been resolved an awful lot quicker.

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