§ Mr. Higginsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the limit of £2,000 above which employees have to declare expenses, payments and benefits for income tax purposes was fixed; what is now the corresponding figure, allowing for the change in the value of money; how many man-hours are taken by the Inland Revenue in operating the relevant legislation; and what is the estimated number of man-hours to be saved by raising the limit to correspond to its original value.
§ Mr. Harold LeverThe £2,000 figure at which the special provisions about tax on expenses payments and benefits in kind apply was fixed in 1948, and the present equivalent of £2,000 is about £4,000. As regards the remaining parts of the Question it is not practicable to distinguish the time spent on this aspect of the work from the operation of Schedule E and P.A.Y.E. as a whole.