[WillowTheWhisp]

Her release was nothing to do with her age. It was because somebody paid the bill and so the reason for imprisoning her no longer existed.

She didn't want to plead poverty because she isn't poor. She was taking a stand on behalf of others less able to do so.

Yes Chav the system we had before "Poll Tax" (Community Charge to give it the proper name) was the rates and every property had a rateable value which was part of the estate agents description when you went to buy a house. It would say "RV such and such" which gave a figure for calculating the rates payable (which depended on the council each year as to how much they needed to rake in in total).

The furore at the Community Charge was that it was levied per individual adult and so you got the situation where some households were paying two or three times what they'd paid under the old rates system.

So we then got Council Tax instead which is a kind of hybrid because it's based on a valuation done on the property (to band it A, B. C etc) but also gives a discount where there is only one adult living in the house.

I don't think the old rates system had a single adult discount so in some ways the Council Tax is possibly fairer but maybe it's time to have a rethink about a local income tax (though quite how it would be administered is beyond me) I think it was one of the altrnative suggestions put forth to oppose the "Poll Tax" but it failed in favour of the Council Tax which is easier to allocate and claim. (I think)

I'm not totally against the Council Tax personally, just think that perhaps it could be less if money wasn't wasted as it so often is.