§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the(a) number and 112W (b) percentage of (i) pensioners and (ii) pensioner households (A) paying income tax and (B) entitled to the minimum income guarantee. [57201]
§ Dawn PrimaroloIt is estimated that there will be some 4.9 million taxpayers over state retirement pension age in 2002–03 and this is some 45 per cent. of the 10.9 million pensioners. The taxpayer estimates are based on the survey or personal incomes and are consistent with the April 2002 Budget. The population estimates were provided by the Government Actuary's Department.
Based on the family resources survey it is estimated that there are some eight million families where at least one person is over pension age, 4.2 million of these families contain a taxpayer in 2002–03.
Estimates for those entitled to the minimum income guarantee are not available in the format requested. Estimates for the number of single pensioners and pensioner couples in receipt of MIG and those entitled to but not in receipt of MIG are presented in "Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take Up in 1999–2000". A copy of the publication is available in the Library of the House.