Income Tax (Hansard, 27 November 1979)

§ Mr. Peter Rees

Information on average earnings in the other EEC countries,

				Average production worker's wage in £ sterling	Income tax in £ sterling	Percentage of income paid in income tax
United Kingdom	…	…	…	5,167	968	18.7
Belgium	…	…	…	6,680	807	12.1
France	…	…	…	5,417	103	1.9
Germany	…	…	…	8,405	956	11.4
Ireland	…	…	…	5,090	730	14.3
Italy	…	…	…	4,136	416	10.1
Netherlands	…	…	…	7,905	1,101	13.9
USA	…	…	…	6,527	512	7.8
Japan	…	…	…	6,961	220	3.2
Notes
1. Figures for the other EEC countries, the USA and Japan and United Kingdom Treasury estimates of APW wage levels as at 1 October 1979, based on OECD figures for 1978 earnings of an average production worker—estimates for Denmark and Luxembourg are not available. The United Kingdom figure is an estimate of the average wage of a male manual worker in manufacturing industry for September 1979, but this figure may be abnormally low because of the effect of the engineering dispute.
2. Currency conversions have been made at the exchange rates prevailing on 19 November 1979. The exchange rates between the United Kingdom and overseas countries may not fully reflect differences in consumer's purchasing power between the United Kingdom and those countries.
3. The tax figure is income tax only and does not include Social Security contributions. In computing tax liabilities, account has been taken of personal allowances and reliefs, employment income reliefs, minimum deductions for expenses, allowances for social security contributions and any other flat rate reliefs against employment income.
4. All income is assumed to be employment income of the husband.
5. All figures relate to the tax year 1979 or 1979–80, except for France—1978—whose income tax rates are fixed in arrear.
6. The United Kingdom completed its move from child tax allowances to child benefits with effect from 6 April 1979. Income from child benefits and analogous payment overseas has not been taken into account in any of these calculations.