[Luckypants]

I agree with Tim Wilky on this one. Council Tax is not raised by Central Government so has little to do with them, it is a local tax to help pay for local council services. All central government have to do with it is setting up the laws and mechanisms to collect the money.

The community charge was IMO the fairest way to pay for council services. Everyone uses these services in more or less equal measure. (I know there are exceptional cases) so why should everyone not just pay the same? A property tax (the old rates system and current council tax) is very unfair in that it penalises those just starting on the property ladder or those heading into retirement. Have you noticed that most Council Tax protesters / withholders of payment are OAPs? That is because with a much reduced income they want to stay in the house they have worked for and paid for, but CT seems dis-proportionately high relative to their now reduced and fixed incomes. How about a single parent who finds themselves with a family house but very little income? The single person starting out on the housing ladder struggling to pay a big mortgage?

No tax system is fair to all, all the time, but the Community Charge really did seem to be fairest to me. The ones who objected had never paid Rates in the past.