HC Deb 04 March 1977 vol 927 cc357-8W
Mr. Hannam

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the cost per year in VAT to the revenue of (a) exempting living artists and sculptors, (b) zero-rating living artists and sculptors and (c) raising the exemption limit to £10,000.

of a child by widows and others, as announced by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary in his statement of 16th November 1976. This will apply to each such dependency allowance received. The position for 1977–78, assuming the proposed reductions in child tax allowances —£104 for first child and £130 for subsequent children—and current rates of dependency allowances—£387 for first child and £309 for subsequent children—will be as follows for the families concerned:

Mr. Robert Sheldon

Living artists and sculptors are classified for VAT statistical purposes with designers, authors, freelance journalists, and composers. It is estimated that if this group were exempted from VAT the loss of revenue would be about £5 million a year and if the goods and services they supply were zero-rated the loss could be significantly larger. Raising the exemption level for VAT to £10,000 a year would result in an estimated loss of revenue of about £45 million a year.