§ Dr. McDonaldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his latest estimate for the number of low-income working families with effective marginal tax rates taking into account loss of benefits of 100 per cent. or over, 80 per cent. or over and 60 per cent. or over, if possible, divided into those with and without children; and, in each case, what percentage of all working families they represent.
§ Mr. WhitneyI regret that the exact information requested is not available. The family expenditure survey data have been analysed to give estimates of working families with various ranges of marginal tax rates but not precisely those requested. The largest estimates derived wholly from these data relate to 1981. Further tentative estimates have been made of the current position and these are shown in the table.
Estimated number of working families with marginal tax rates of 50 per cent, or more*† Marginal tax rate (percent.) Number Percentage of appropriate group of working families Families with children 100 or over 70,000 about 1 75 or over 210,000 about3½ 50 or over 300,000 about 5 Families without children 50 or over † 60,000 about ½ *Excludes families subject to higher rates of income tax. †These estimates do not take account of the number taken out of tax as a result of the 1984 and 1985 Budgets. It is estimated that about 20,000 families with children with marginal tax rates of 50 per cent. or over will have been affected in this way. ‡ The sample numbers are too small to allow further analyses.