§ 6. Mr. Chapmanasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what will be the combined income tax and national insurance contribution liability, when the Budget resolutions take effect, of a single person earning (a) £50, (b) £75 and (c) £100 per week.
§ Mr. ChapmanI welcome and appreciate the significantly reduced income tax and national insurance 999 liability of the low-paid over the past two Budgets, as instanced by the fact that a single person earning £50 a week has had that liability halved, but if it is correct that a person now earning only half average earnings still has to pay about 25 per cent. in income tax and national insurance contributions, must it not remain a top priority for the Chancellor in future Budgets to reduce that tax liability further?
§ Mr. MooreI thank my hon. Friend for his support for what we have been able to do. He is absolutely right. I would not want to be precise on the figures, but for those on half average earnings about 25 per cent. would go in national insurance and income tax. I welcome his support and that of all hon. Members for anything further that the Government can do, within a sound economic performance, to reduce further the actual rates of income tax.
§ Mr. PenhaligonWill the Minister confirm that if the £100 to which he referred had been unearned and a sole income, the Government's take would have been less? Can the Minister say what is logical about that?
§ Mr. MooreWhat the Minister can say quite clearly, as my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary said a few moments ago, is that the attempt to reduce national insurance contributions at the bottom, and this time the combination on top of that, has given us a much better opportunity to add to employment.