§ Mr. Gwilym Robertsasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will give an estimate of the numbers 183W paying Income Tax and Rates, respectively, and the number of ratepayers who earned insufficient to pay Income Tax; and if he will institute an inquiry into alternative methods of raising local government revenue with the aim of abolishing the whole rating system.
§ Mr. MacCollThe number of persons in Great Britain paying Income Tax in 1966–67 is estimated to be 19.3 million. The number of rateable hereditaments is nearly 20 million, of which about 16.8 million are domestic.
I cannot given an estimate of the number of individual ratepayers as such, or say how many of them do not pay Income Tax.
The Government are making a further study of local government finance in connection with the Royal Commission on Local Government.