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==United States==
A '''poll tax''' is a tax that must be paid to exercise the right to vote. The 24th Amendment of the US Constitution, ratified in 1964, outlawed the use of this kind of tax as a condition of voting. Poll taxes were levied in several states after the Civil War for the purpose of preventing poor people from voting. In the southern states, this effectively suppressed African American and Native American voters.<ref>http://www.usconstitution.net/constamnotes.html#Am24</ref>
==Great Britain==
The '''poll tax''', also known as the community charge, was a failed attempt at a true [[level tax]], introduced by [[Margaret Thatcher]] in [[Scotland]] in 1988 and in [[England]] and [[Wales]] in 1990. The thinking behind it was that instead of traditional taxation systems based on [[income tax|income]], the total tax requirement would be divided by the population, thus ensuring that everyone paid the same amount. While popular with those who had previously been paying high levels of taxation, it proved unpopular with the [[poor]], many of whom were left with tax bills of more than their entire income. Disquiet with the [[poll tax]], combined with her growing personal unpopularity and a sense within her party that she was an electoral liability<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/31/newsid_2530000/2530763.stm</ref>, forced Thatcher from office in November 1990. She was replaced by [[John Major]].