HC Deb 07 April 1964 vol 692 cc774-5
3. Mr. Longden

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of income was the Income Tax paid in 1951 and 1963 by a single man, a man with a wife and one child of school age, and a man with a wife and two children, respectively, whose total income, all earned, was £250 a year, £400 a year, £680 a year, £1,000 a year, £1,500 a year, and £1,999 a year, respectively.

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Maurice Macmillan)

Since the reply contains a number of figures, I will with permission, circulate a table in the OFFICIAL REPORT, but I can tell my hon. Friend that the proportion payable on an income of £1,999 was 32.4 per cent, in 1951 and 24.0 per cent. in 1963; and no tax was payable in 1963 by a single man on £250 or a married man with two children on £680, although in 1951 a man in either of these situations paid about 7 per cent. of his income in tax.

Mr. Longden

While thanking my hon. Friend for having got out those figures, may I ask whether it would be correct to say that, although total Exchequer receipts from direct taxation have risen with incomes, individual taxpayers in those income brackets today pay either nothing, or a significantly smaller proportion of their incomes than in 1951?

Mr. Macmillan

My hon. Friend is, of course, right that the rates of tax have been decreased. As the House knows,

INCOME TAX AS A PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL INCOME
Total income (earned) Single man Married man with 1 child Married man with 2 children Married man with 3 children
1951 1963 1951 1963 1951 1963 1951 1963
£ per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent.
250 … … … 6.7 — — — — — — —
400 … … … 12.4 4.5 2.1 — — — — —
680 … … … 21.6 12.2 11.1 1.4 7.5 — 4.6 —
1000 … … … 26.8 17.9 19.7 7.9 16.4 3.7 13.1 0.3
1500 … … … 30.6 22.0 25.8 15.3 23.6 11.7 21.4 8.0
1999 … … … 32.4 24.0 28.9 19.0 27.2 16.3 25.5 13.6
Assuming all children are between the ages of 11 and 16 years.
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