Britain's poll tax policy: An Institutionalist approach

Previous interpretations of Britain's poll tax policy fail to offer sufficient explanations. This article argues that the poll tax can only be fully understood by taking an explicit lnstitutionalist approach, which argues for an examination of the interaction of ideas, interests and institutions. The following analysis shows that the genesis of the policy was the inability of the Conservatives to force local expenditure reductions through the previous local government finance system. This led to a search for new policy options which, interacting with Thatcherite ideas on local government, produced the poll tax policy.