§ Mr. Meacherasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the annual percentage increase in real personal disposable income each year since 1945, both on a year-to-year basis and cumulatively since 1945 ; and how much of this increase each year was accounted for by dividends and interest payments.
§ Mr. NottEstimates of real personal disposable income are not available before 1948. The year-to-year percentage increases in the period 1948 to 1951 are given in the table below. Corresponding percentage increases for the period 1951 to 1972 will be found in the October 1973 edition of Economic Trends (Table 11A, page 1x). Over the whole period from 1948 to 1972 the annual average rate of increase (compound) was 2.9 per cent.
Real personal disposable income Percentage increase over preceding year 1949 + 2.8 1950 + 2.5 1951 - 1.3 There is no satisfactory basis for allocating taxes on income, which are assessed on the basis of the total income of individuals, to components of this income, in order to estimate what part of personal disposable income might be said to be derived from dividend and interest payments.