Architect of Poll Tax Warns Of Similar Chaos with Council Tax Shake-Up

One of the main architects of the poll tax has warned ministers they are in line for similar chaos over controversial plans to impose council tax on thousands for the first time. Tory peer Lord Jenkin, who helped design Thatcher’s doomed community charge, said plans to cut council tax benefit would hit the pockets of the working poor – just the sort of people for whom the Coalition has pledged to make work pay.  Experts said last night that cuts to the benefit meant that up to 750,000 people could be forced to pay council tax for the first time, or will have to pay more.  In addition, thousands of middle class people could lose out because some local authorities are scrapping discounts on second homes in response to the reforms, which come into effect next April. Lord Jenkin told the BBC that the government needed to be braced for a ‘backlash’ over the complicated changes to council tax benefit, which is paid to 5.9million people.  The warning comes just a day after accountants said another set of changes – this time to child benefit – could also lead to chaos because the reforms are too complex for parents to understand.  Read more on the Daily Mail website.