§ Miss Richardsonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families benefited from both the married man's tax allowance and the wife's earned income relief in each year since 1945.
§ Mr. Peter Rees,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 6 July 1979], gave the following answer:
Figures are available only for the income tax years below.
Estimated number of married couples where the wife has earned income—including her own pension.
1959–60 — 4,450
1962–63 — 4,650
1963–64 — 4,590
1964–65 — 4,800
1965–66 — 4,840
1966–67 — 5,130
1967–68 — 5,300
1968–69 — 5,530
1969–70 — 5,600
1970–71 — 6,060
1971–72 — 6,300
1972–73 — 5,910
1973–74 — 6,360
1974–75 — 6,630
1975–76 — 6,790
1976–77 — 7,040
The coverage of the figures is limited to married couples with incomes exceeding the PAYE threshold appropriate to each year, and therefore married couples with very low taxable incomes are not fully covered. Changes in the PAYE threshold affect the comparability of the figures from year to year.