HC Deb 16 December 1987 vol 124 c1206
Mr. Graham Allen (Nottingham, North)

I beg leave to present a petition from Nottingham residents, showing the effects of the proposed poll tax upon the people of Nottingham. It will be unfair, expensive, inefficient, divisive and damaging; therefore they are asking that the House rejects the proposals to impose a poll tax upon the people of Nottingham and Britain.

To lie upon the Table.

Mr. Norman Hogg (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth)

I beg leave to present a petition on behalf of the provost, councillors and 2,464 citizens of the constituency of Cumbernauld and Kilsyth. The petition shows that the Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act provides for the introduction in Scotland of the system of community charge or poll tax, which will impose upon the people of Scotland the system of local taxation which will take no account of the ability of the citizens to afford such taxation and will cause hardship to many who are already poor.

In my constituency, a household of three adults will pay £254 more per year and a household of four adults will pay £519 more per year. The community charge or poll tax will cause the redistribution of resources away from poor areas into areas which are already prosperous. It will be expensive to operate and its collection will entail invasions of privacy and the allocation to each adult Scot of a personal computer identification number.

This week, three leading churchmen have declared against the poll tax: Archbishop Thomas Winning, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow; Bishop Derek Rawcliffe, the Episcopalian Bishop of Glasgow; and the Rev. Maxwell Craig, the Convenor of the Church of Scotland church and nation committee. The petition ends: Wherefore your petitioners pray that your Honourable House repeal the Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act and your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, etc.

To lie upon the Table.

Mr. Bruce Millan (Glasgow, Govan)

I am pleased to present a petition of the constituents of Govan on the introduction of the community charge and poll tax in Scotland, imposing as they do on the people of Scotland a system of taxation which is unfair, will discriminate against the poor in favour of the better-off, and in its implications and operations has serious implications for personal privacy. My constituents therefore protest against the implementation of this tax in Scotland and end the petition by stating: Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your Honourable House will repeal the Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act. And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray etc.

To lie upon the Table.

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