§ 69. Mr. Nabarroasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware of the damaging effects on British industry of an increase in a production or works manager's salary from £2,000 per annum to £3,000 per annum resulting in Surtax taking £400 approximately of such increase and the manager retaining only £600, whereas a similar executive in Western Germany retains £700, in France £756 and in the United States of America £775 in strictly comparable circumstances; and, in view of the harmful effects of Surtax on Great Britain's industrial executives, notably affecting the national export trade, what fiscal steps he now proposes to take to assist British industry engaged in the export trade.
§ Sir E. Boyle:My right hon. and learned Friend is aware of the comparisons which are made between the tax rates of this and other countries, and has noted my hon. Friend's view; but he cannot anticipate his Budget statement.
§ 70. Mr. Nabarroasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in view of the policy of Her Majesty's Government to encourage married women, notably graduates, to return to the teaching profession, what steps he proposes to take to alleviate the effects of the married woman teacher's income, when aggregated to her husband's income, in lifting the combined income of the married couple into the Surtax bracket and thus discouraging the return of married women to the teaching profession.
§ Sir E. Boyle:I cannot anticipate my right hon. and learned Friend's Budget statement.
§ Mr. Nabarroasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the cost to the revenue in a full year of non-aggregation of the income of spouses for Surtax purposes; and what study he is making of the effect upon the economy that would result from the separate assessment of Surtax of spouses.
§ Sir E. Boyle:I regret that it is not possible to estimate the cost for which my hon. Friend asks. The Answer to the second part of the Question is that my 25W right hon. and learned Friend is considering various representations that the suggested step would encourage more married women to take up paid work.
§ Mr. Nabarroasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, based on statistics at 1st January, 1961, and on current rates and allowances for direct personal taxation only, what would be the cost to the revenue in a full year of fixing the ceiling rate of Income Tax and Surtax combined at 12s. in the pound, instead of the current ceiling rate of 17s. 9d. in the pound.
§ Sir E. Boyle:To fix the top Surtax rate at 4s. 3d., which would then apply to the excess of chargeable incomes over £4.000, and leave the rates below that rate unchanged would cost about £50 million.
§ Mr. Houghtonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the number of Surtax assessments in which the amount of Surtax payable is less than £5, £10, £20, £50, and £100, respectively; what proportion of the total number of Surtax assessments these numbers, respectively, represent; and what proportion of the total yield of Surtax is collected in amounts of less than £100.
§ Mr. Selwyn Lloyd:The final figures of Surtax for 1958–59 are estimated as follows:
Amount of Surtax payable Number of Surtax assessments Percentage of total number '000 per cent. Less than £5 16 4 Less than £10 31 8 Less than £20 58 15 Less than £50 120 31 Less than £100 185 48 About 4½ per cent. of the total yield of Surtax will have been collected in amounts of less than £100.