§ Mr. Barnesasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to continue for 1969–70 the arrangement under which the Income Tax allowances of taxpayers entitled to family allowances are reduced in order to confine the benefit of this year's increases in family allowances to poorer families.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsI must reserve my proposals on this and related matters for the Budget Statement. It is, however,74W necessary for the Inland Revenue to proceed in the near future with the work of fixing P.A.Y.E. code numbers for 1969–70, and I have therefore authorised them, without prejudice to any decisions I may announce in the Budget, to carry out the coding on the assumption that the present arrangement will continue.
The amount of the reduction in tax allowances to be made in the 1969–70 codings will be £42 for each qualifying child where the taxpayer will be entitled to family allowance for the whole of that year, with proportionate reductions where family allowance will be payable for only part of the year. The reduction is £42, instead of the £36 which applies for 1968–69, because in 1969–70 the 3s. a week increase in family allowances which has just taken effect will be payable for the whole year.