Thatcher on Dangerous Ground

...Labor will be levered out of local councils in favor of upstanding Tory councillors who will not play fast and loose with public moneys...

...Characteristically, Thatcher is boldly stepping out where her predecessors feared to tread...

...As things stand now, and have stood for a long time, the only local taxes in this country are property/business levies...

...For Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher the enemy is, of course, the Labor Party...

...The confusion and disgruntlement that will inevitably result will be a huge boon to Labor in the campaign...

...Yet in her determination to make the Opposition's blood flow, the Iron Lady could end up inflicting worse wounds on herself...

...Periodic official calculations of home values to determine rates owed are at best guesstimates...

...Her community charge scheme will replace the existing rates with a poll tax—a fixed sum to be paid by all who are over the age of 18...

...Hopes of moderate Tories like former Defense Secretary Michael Heseltine and former Leader of the House of Commons John Biffen to give their party a more caring image have been smothered by the Prime Minister's determination to have her way, without backtalk...

...As a tactician leading her fail h fui Tories into the fray, she bears a striking resemblance to General George Patton: Not content to consolidate her already substantial battlefield gains, and scornful of the caveats of her more timorous strategists, she is plunging ahead over dangerous terrain to obliterate the Laborites while they are still reeling from a succession of electoral humiliations...

...Successive British governments have examined possibilities for altering the system to make it more equitable and less vulnerable to abuse by local officials, but none actually did anything...

...Unlike the United States, Britain does not yet have a system of Taxpayer Identification or Social Security numbers to help tax collectors keep tabs on such people...

...To begin with, despite its apparent simplicity—all adults treated equally for the purpose of local taxation—the community charge is an enormously complicated arrangement...

...This has included "factfinding" trips to Nicaragua, subsidies for anti-Thatcher publications, "racial awareness" instruction for secondary school teachers, and the establishment of gay and lesbian social centers...

...In some places they have gone up 50 per cent or more over the past year...

...Norman Gfib is the NL's London correspondent...

...Her latest offensive involves the introduction of what is euphemistically termed a "community charge" —a new form of local taxation that, when implemented, will affect the finances of every adult in Britain...

...It is calculated that town halls will have to triple or quadruple their tax assessing and collecting staffs to cope with the new charge, incurring vastly increased expenses in the process...

...In Britain as in the United States and elsewhere, taxes can be the issue to sway voters...

...It is Thatcher's contention that once the community charge replaces the old rate system, local councils now in the hands of irresponsible Labor officials will be made more accountable...

...It is no wonder that several Cabinet members are known to have serious reservations about the whole scheme...

...It is neither too early nor an exaggeration to say that this move could cost her seemingly invincible Tories the next election...

...From a purely political standpoint, many in the ruling party are worried that the substitution of Thatcher's community charge for the existing rates will make for more losers than winners...

...Thatcher, incontestably in control, made it clear once again that "the lady is not for turning...

...People in straitened circumstances—the young living in expensive and increasingly hard-to-find rental accommodations, nurses leaving their noble profession in droves for betterpaying unskilled work—will have to surrender the same amount as those without a financial worry in the world...

...Nevertheless, it is significant that Neil Kinnock is moving to cast off Labor's image as the party of heavy taxation...

...She could be very mistaken...

...The community charge is a regressive tax (although there will be rebates for the destitute and those on very low incomes...

...But they are not perturbed by the prospect of undermining one of the Labor Party's few remaining strengths, control of local government bodies in Britain's major cities...

...TAXING THE LITTLE GUY Thatcher on Dangerous Ground BY NORMAN GELB London Politics is like warfare—at least it is in Britain, where the object is not merely to govern but to demolish the enemy...

...Homeowners and commercial concerns pay assessments to local government councils for the provision of services...

...Aside from enraging homeowners, this has driven businesses out of steeply rated areas...

...Local councils—particularly those under Labor Party control—tend to increase rates rather than reduce expenditures as the painless way to balance their books...

...Granted, even though Thatcher may be presenting the Labor Party with a sizable political windfall, it still has a long way to go to persuade British voters it can form a credible government...

...More important, renters will be liable as well...

...Numerous observers see its endless infighting and policy muddles as evidence of deeply entrenched suicidal tendencies, and suspect Thatcher might be right in claiming the Tories will be governing Britain into the next century...

...Meanwhile, keeping track of the hundreds of foreigners in Britain may prove close to impossible...

...Occupants o( rental dwellings are exempt from it, and that includes millions of people who live in publicly owned housing projects...

...No longer will they be assured of re-election by the majority of local voters who do not pay rates and therefore have no reason to complain when assessments are increased to finance politically-motivated ventures or extravagant town hall staffs...

...These imposts are called "rates,' to distinguish them from other kinds of taxes...

...Everyone will pay the same, regardless of income...

...His latest book is The Berlin Wall: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and a Showdown in the Heart of Europe...

...Officials will have an immense task monitoring individuals on the move and determining in what district they should be required to pay the community charge...

...Ironically, thegreatest exodus has been from high unemployment districts, adding to the jobless rolls there...

...They are convinced that the current rates system, with all its shortcomings, is better than Thatcher's alternative and should be modified instead of scrapped...

...The Tories insist that fairness is their main object...

...But at last month's party conference in Blackpool, critics of the plan were methodically denied a platform to voice their objections...

...In addition to providing the usual municipal services, the councils concentrate heavily on welfare programs catering to the unemployed and underprivileged members of their communities...

...And due to the system's complexity, present plans call for it to be introduced in stages over a four-year period beginning in 1990—just before the next general elections...

...If Thatcher's newfangled community charge ends up inflicting heavier and more inequitable financial burdens on the voters at a time when Labor is finally shaking free of its reputation for mindless prodigality, the Tories may find themselves coasting toward the defeat most of them now find unimaginable...

...Recent calculations indicate that, despite the Prime Minister's forecasts, comparatively few people will emerge paying substantially less in new local taxes than they have been, while a great number— perhaps the majority—will find their families owing a great deal more...

...Many of them come here for brief periods of time yet benefit from local services during their stay...

...Many criticisms can be levelled against the existing rates system...

...No longer will homeowners and operators of business establishments bear the burden of financing local services by themselves— their spouses and adult offspring will have to pay up, too...

...Those dominated by the " Loony Left" wing of the party have also indulged in a variety of ideologically-inspired expenditures that have infuriated Tories, and even many Laborites...

...The aspect of the proposed system that has aroused the most widespread opposition, however, is an ethical one...

...Several million Britons, particularly young adults, are transients who change their address frequently...

...That, at least, is Thatcher's expectation...