§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, further to his reply to the hon. Member for Norfolk, North, Official Report, 2 December, column 105, whether he has any working estimate of the effect of each 100,000 unemployed on revenues from income tax, national insurance contributions and value added tax.
§ Mr. BiffenThe effects on Government receipts of changes in unemployment associated with particular developments in the economy are automatically calculated whenever those developments are simulated on the Treasury model. They vary according to the cause of the286W change in unemployment. A simulation on specific assumptions about the cause could in principle be carried out, but I am unwilling to do this for the reasons given in reply to the hon. Member for Newham, North-East (Mr. Leighton).—[Vol. 973, c. 622–23.]