It is said that the Scots continue to bear a grudge over the way that Margaret Thatcher imposed the Poll Tax on them, or rather tried it out on them a whole year before inflicting it on the English, thus proving that she regarded the Scots as mere guinea pigs or lab rats.
The Scots are, of course, entitled to their own opinion (& do not need my permission for it) but I personally have always blamed the Scots for the fact that we English ended up having it imposed upon us.
It is well known that the poll tax proposals were developed by a team of outside advisers brought in because the civil servants could not be trusted to produce workable proposals for a tax about which they were sceptical.
When the Green Paper was published with its glossy green cover & what may have been the first ever full-colour graphs in such a publication, I was almost convinced by the case for a poll tax laid out in the first few paragraphs. Then common sense prevailed. I was far from being the only sceptic - many Conservatives spoke against it too. A lengthy consultation period began.
But the Scottish Conservative ministers were in trouble.
The existing unpopular system of financing local government, based on the rates (a type of property tax) relied on periodic revaluation of all properties in each local area. This exercise always produced big political trouble – those who ended up paying more complained vociferously while everybody else of course kept quiet. A rating revaluation due in England had been postponed pending the new Green Paper but Scotland had gone ahead with theirs. Middle class voters in more expensive homes were not happy, & the Scottish Conservatives feared punishment at the next election. Then they heard of this wizard new wheeze in England. They asked for & were given permission to rush it though north of the border.
The chances of the proposals getting defeated by a rebellion of English Conservative MPs were probably slim anyway, but all hope of this disappeared once the tax was up & running in Scotland.
That is my way of looking at it anyway.
Related post
