§ Mr. Gowerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the approximate amount of Income Tax and Surtax, respectively, collected from persons resident in Wales during the year ending April, 1955; and what were the figures for the two previous years.
§ Mr. H. MacmillanThe amount of Income Tax payments attributable to residents of Wales and Monmouthshire is estimated at between £30 million and £45 million for 1954–55 and also for each of the two preceding years. I regret that corresponding figures for Surtax are not available.
§ Mr. Gowerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the approximate amounts of Purchase Tax collected in respect of goods sold in Wales during 1954 and 1955, respectively.
§ Mr. H. MacmillanI estimate that of the Purchase Tax collected in 1954, about £11½ million may have related to goods for sale in Wales; and in 1955, about £14 million. These estimates are derived from the Census of Distribution 1950, which shows for that year the proportions which the trade of retailers in Wales who deal substantially in taxable goods bore to the trade of such retailers in the entire United Kingdom; it has been assumed that these proportions have remained about the same in subsequent years and that they can be taken as a basis to indicate, approximately, the revenue attributable to purchases of taxable goods in Wales.
These estimates are not comparable with the estimate given in reply to the hon. Member's Question on 29th June, 1954, which had to be based on a broader and more approximate assumption.