§ 35. Sir J. Edenasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the nearest convenient date, the total number of income tax payers, the total number of tax officials concerned with the collection of income tax and the amount of revenue they collected; and how these figures compare with those for 1973.
Number of taxpayers* Income tax† Staff concerned with income tax collection (collection office staff in brackets) ('000's) (£m.) Year to 31st March 1977 … … 25,650 17,076 62,039 (7,732) Year to 31st March 1974 … … 23,300 7,444 54,170 (6,833) * Married couples are counted as two individuals where the husband pays tax and the wife also pays tax on her earnings. † Because of the change from surtax to higher rate income tax and investment income surcharge, (he figures, to preserve comparability, include revenue from, and staff concerned with, surtax.