§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish figures showing for 1949–50 and for 1974–75 (a) the national average manual wage and (b) the income tax threshold for a man with a wife and two children not over 11 years of age; and if he will also show what the 1974–75 threshold should be in order to preserve the earlier ratio between tax threshold and average wage.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonThe figures are as follows:
Tax threshold for earned income£ Average earnings*£ Tax threshold as percentage of average earnings 1949–50 … 383† 371 103.2 1974–75 … 1,293 2,529 51.1 The 1974–75 tax threshold would need to be increased to £2,610 in order to preserve the 1949–50 relationship with average earnings. * The earnings shown are the annual equivalents of average weekly earnings of male manual workers aged 21 and over in manufacturing and certain other industries at October of each year. † After allowing for earned income relief and the national insurance allowance.