§ Mr. Lawsonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what amount is currently paid per week in each of the following: (a) VAT, (b) Her Majesty's Customs and Excise duties, (c) income tax, (d) employee's national insurance contributions, and (e) rent; and how much is saved per week as a result of (f) local authority housing subsidies, (g) food subsidies and (h) rail subsidies, by the following groups: (i) a household of two adults and two children under 11 years of age, in which the head of the household is earning the national average wage, (ii) a household of two adults and two children under 11 years of age, in which the head of the household is earning £30 per week gross, (iii) a household of two adults and two children under 11 years of age, in which the head of the household is earning £40 per week gross, (iv) a household of two adults and two children under 11 years of age, in which the head of the household is earning £134.62 per week gross (£7,000 per annum), (v) an average pensioner couple, (vi) an average single pensioner, and (vii) a single person living entirely from supplementary benefit.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 28th June 1976; Vol. 914, c. 49–50], gave the following information:
A detailed analysis of the distributional impact of taxes and benefits based on the 1974 Family Expenditure Survey is given in the February 1976 issue of Economic Trends. To derive the estimates for the specific household types and items of tax and subsidy requested would require an extrapolation of the 1974 data to current price, income, tax and subsidy levels. This would be a major and lengthy updating exercise. Moreover, it would require assumptions to be made, for example, about consump- 208W tion patterns, which would place serious qualifications on the resulting estimates. This is particularly so in the case of subsidies and taxes on expenditure where there have been significant changes in both the coverage and level over the last two years.