HC Deb 15 May 1959 vol 605 cc199-200W
Mrs. Butler

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much it would cost to abolish the aggregation of the incomes of husbands and wives for Surtax purposes, and treat the two incomes separately.

Mr. Amory

About £41 million in a full year, on the assumption that the separation applied only to earned income. There is no information on which to estimate the effect of aggregation of investment income.

Mrs. Butler

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many working wives are paying Surtax on the whole of their incomes; and what yield in taxation this produces.

Mr. Amory

Taking the wife's earned income as the top slice of the joint income Surtax is chargeable on the whole of the wife's earnings in about 90,000 cases. The Surtax payable on the wife's earned income on the same assumption is about £4 million. There is no information on which to estimate the effect of aggregation of investment income.

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