§ Mr. Teddy TaylorTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what tax concessions are made to agriculture which are not available to manufacturing industry; and what is his estimate of the annual value of such concessions.
§ Mr. Norman Lamont[holding answer 15 February 1988]: There is one statutory tax relief applying to agriculture which is not broadly mirrored by an equivalent relief for manufacturing industry. This is section 28 of the Finance Act 1978, which allows farmers to average their profits over two years for tax purposes, in certain circumstances. The estimated cost of this relief for 1987–88 is £10 million. There are also several extra-statutory concessions affecting agriculture; the cost of most of these cannot be reliably estimated, but is likely to be very small.