§ Mr. Crawfordasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the cost to the Exchequer in a full year of the abolition of tax on widows' pensions.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonI regret that the information on which to base a precise calculation is not available, but it is estimated that the cost for 1975–76 of exempting the widow's State pension from income tax would be about £70 million. This includes the tax on the national insurance retirement pensions 773W of widows between the ages of 60 and 65, which it is not possible to distinguish in the costs.