Scribd
Upload
53 views1 page

Poll Tax

A poll tax is a fixed tax per individual that is cheap to administer but is very unpopular. While economically efficient because population is fixed, in reality family sizes adjust over time in response to poll taxes. The introduction of a poll tax in medieval England led to the 1381 Peasants' Revolt, and its adoption in the UK in the late 20th century resulted in widespread refusal to pay and civil unrest known as the Poll Tax Riots.

Uploaded by

Maika J. Pudadera
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
53 views1 page

Poll Tax

A poll tax is a fixed tax per individual that is cheap to administer but is very unpopular. While economically efficient because population is fixed, in reality family sizes adjust over time in response to poll taxes. The introduction of a poll tax in medieval England led to the 1381 Peasants' Revolt, and its adoption in the UK in the late 20th century resulted in widespread refusal to pay and civil unrest known as the Poll Tax Riots.

Uploaded by

Maika J. Pudadera
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

Poll[edit]

Main article: Poll tax


A poll tax, also called a per capita tax, or capitation tax, is a tax that levies a set amount per
individual. It is an example of the concept of fixed tax. One of the earliest taxes mentioned in
the Bible of a half-shekel per annum from each adult Jew (Ex. 30:11–16) was a form of poll tax. Poll
taxes are administratively cheap because they are easy to compute and collect and difficult to cheat.
Economists have considered poll taxes economically efficient because people are presumed to be in
fixed supply and poll taxes therefore do not lead to economic distortions. However, poll taxes are
very unpopular because poorer people pay a higher proportion of their income than richer people. In
addition, the supply of people is in fact not fixed over time: on average, couples will choose to have
fewer children if a poll tax is imposed. [19][failed verification] The introduction of a poll tax in medieval England
was the primary cause of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt. Scotland was the first to be used to test the
new poll tax in 1989 with England and Wales in 1990. The change from a progressive local taxation
based on property values to a single-rate form of taxation regardless of ability to pay (the Community
Charge, but more popularly referred to as the Poll Tax), led to widespread refusal to pay and to
incidents of civil unrest, known colloquially as the 'Poll Tax Riots'.
Other[edit]
Some types of taxes have been proposed but not actually adopted in any major jurisdiction. These
include:

 Bank tax
 Financial transaction taxes including currency transaction taxes

You might also like