§ Mr. Knoxasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of married women in employment are taxed separately from their husbands.
§ Mr. WakehamInformation is not available centrally on the number of married couples with the wife in employment who have made the wife's earnings election or who have opted for separate assessment; in the latter case, the numbers involved are thought to be only a few thousand. It is estimated, however, that at 1982–83 income levels about 200,000 married couples would find it beneficial to make the wife's earnings election. In nearly all these cases the wife is in employment or self-employed. This number represents about 3 per cent. of married couples where the Inland Revenue knows that the wife has earnings; but as earnings below the threshold for the operation of PAYE may not be reported to the Revenue, it would be a smaller proportion of all married women in employment.