World Notes

British governments are not exactly unaccustomed to the consequences of despised tax policies. A levy on tea, after all, helped spark the American Revolution. Last week, to save itself from the voters' wrath, the government of Prime Minister John Major unveiled its alternative to the deeply hated poll tax, the flat-fee assessment that Margaret Thatcher instituted last year to replace property taxes as the means of financing local governments.

The poll tax prompted a bloody riot in London, helped bring about Thatcher's resignation and threatened to unseat the ruling Conservative Party in national elections, which must be held by mid-1992. Major's new scheme would assess owners and renters alike on the basis of the value of their dwellings, with a 25% reduction for individuals living alone. The poor will be exempt.

The proposal is almost certain to be approved by the House of Commons when it is submitted for a vote in the fall. But not without plenty of bellyaching from the opposition. Labour leader Neil Kinnock calls the plan "son of poll tax." His party favors tax rates that would take into account household income as well as property values.