In her later years in power, the woman who famously said "the lady's not for turning" was criticized for her inflexibility while the introduction of a new and widely disliked local tax system further sapped her popularity.

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It is certainly important to cope with immediate problems, but I want to see more fiscal reform - making the central government smaller, improving the accounts of local governments, reforming the tax system.

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Hennepin County's Johnson notes that if there were a uniform tax system, a simple software program that includes a base state tax rate plus local options could be used by businesses to easily calculate and administer sales tax.

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For these reasons he reckons that 90-99% of tax dodgers have long been weeded out of the local system.

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