§ 12. Mr. Roy HughesTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his most recent forecast for the proportion of non-oil gross domestic product that taxes and national insurance contributions will represent in 1990–91.
§ Mr. MaplesThe figure is 371¼per cent.
§ Mr. HughesWill the Minister confirm that, in the year 1978–79, the figure was only 34 per cent? While we appreciate that the Government have reduced personal income tax, that has tended to benefit the rich and in the past 10 years the overall tax burden has increased. Is not that rather different from the impression that the Government tend to give the country?
§ Mr. MaplesI am glad that the hon. Gentleman admits that we have reduced the burden of income tax. What his question left out was the fact that in 1978–79 the Labour Government were running a public sector borrowing requirement amounting to 5½ per cent. of gross domestic product. If that is added to the tax burden, the total comes to over 40 per cent., as against the present figure of under 37 per cent. If our public sector borrowing requirement were now at the same level as it was then, it would be £30 billion.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyDoes my hon. Friend accept that what matters to ordinary families is how much money they have, and that that aspect has improved? Does he agree that tax receipts are affected by tax expenditures and that a couple with a mortgage and above-average earnings will continue to receive the equivalent of 12 child benefits? Perhaps the Department of Social Security and the Inland Revenue could get together and concentrate as much on that as they have on the level of child allowance and child benefits.
§ Mr. MaplesMy hon. Friend is quite right: what matters to most families is the amount of their take-home pay. Under the present Government, the take-home pay of 446 a person on average earnings has risen by more than 30 per cent., or the equivalent of £58 a week. Under the previous Labour Government, it rose by 1 per cent.