§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) further to his written reply of 19 October concerning higher-rate taxpayers, whether he will publish in theOfficial Report a table showing for a married couple without wife's earnings his estimate of the number of wives in each income band with investment income and the average amount of such income together with his estimate of the cost, in terms of (i) higher-rate and (ii) basic rate tax in 1988–89 of disaggregating the wife's income from that of her husband for tax purposes;
(2) further to his written reply of 19 October concerning higher-rate taxpayers, whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for married couples (a) with wife's earnings and (b) with no earnings election, his estimate of the number of wives in each income band with investment income and the average amount of such income together with his estimate of the cost in terms of (i) higher-rate and (ii) basic rate tax, of disaggregating the wife's income from that of her husband for tax purposes;
(3) if, further to his written reply of 19 October concerning higher-rate taxpayers with a wife's earnings election, he will provide for each income band figures showing the numbers and average amount of investment income held by each spouse together with the cost to the Revenue in 1988–89 of disaggregating the wife's investment income from that of her husband for charging higher-rate tax; and if he will distinguish the cases where liability for higher-rate tax falls only on (i) the husband, (ii) the wife and (iii) both;
(4) whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the numbers of earning and non-earning married women with investment income by range of total income of the married couple in cases where neither spouse is paying higher rate tax.
§ Mr. Norman LamontAvailable estimates are in the tables. All estimates are provisional and subject to a wide
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Table 3 Higher rate taxpayers1—with wife's earnings election 1988–89 Wives with investment income Husbands with investment income Range of total income of married couple (lower limit) (£ per annum) Number of wives with investment income (thousands) Amount of investment income (£ million) Average amount of investment income (£ per annum) Number of husbands with investment income (thousands) Amount of investment income (£ million) Average amount of investment income (£ per annum) 20,000 — — — — — — 25,000 — — — — — — 30,000 10 10 820 10 20 1,640 35,000 30 20 670 30 70 2,450 40,000 30 30 920 40 80 2,280 50,000 50 140 2,950 60 510 8,070 All 120 200 1,650 140 680 4,860 1 Married couples and single people. margin of error because they are based on a projection of the 1985–86 survey of personal incomes and the coverage of investment income in the survey is incomplete. In some cases, investment income on which basic rate liability is satisfied by deduction at source is not reported. No reliable estimates can be given for wives where the total income of the married couple is less than £5,000. Further information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Table 1 Higher rate taxpayers—Married couples without wife's earnings 1988–89 Range of total income of married couple (lower limit) Number of wives with investment income Amount of investment income Average amount of investment income £ p.a. '000 £ million £ p.a. 20,000 10 10 1,210 25,000 40 40 1,050 30,000 40 40 1,140 35,000 30 40 1,370 40,000 30 90 2,480 50,000 50 170 3,330 All 200 390 1,910 237W
Table 2 Higher rate taxpayers—Married couples with wife's earnings and no earnings election 1988–89 Range of total income of married couple (lower limit) Number of wives with investment income Amount of investment income Average amount of investment income £ p.a. '000 £ million £ p.a. 20,000 — — — 25,000 90 70 710 30,000 120 90 730 35,000 40 40 880 40,000 30 50 1,620 50,000 40 180 4,840 All 320 430 1,320
Table 4 Married couples where wife has investment income and neither spouse pays higher rate tax 1988–89 Range of total income of married couple (lower limit) (£ per annum) Number of earning wives with investment income (thousands) Number of non-earning wives with investment income (thousands) 5,000 480 1,070 10,000 2,380 1,440 20,000 920 180 30,000 110 — 50,000 — — All 3,890 2,690