§ Mr. Corbettasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the estimated number of widows in receipt of widows' pension who will become liable for income tax following the recent uprating; what is the estimated tax yield from this change in the remainder of the current tax year and in a full tax year, assuming no change in personal allowances; and what is the estimated number of civil servants, and at what cost, involved in collecting this revenue.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon:It is estimated that very few—perhaps around 1,000—widows in receipt of widow's pension, all of whom will have some additional source of income, will become liable to tax in 1978–79 as a result of the uprating in November 1978. The tax payable by these widows in 1978–79 could be about £5,000,
PAYMENTS OF PUBLIC SECTOR DEBT INTEREST £ million Gross payments* Net payments† Total To public bodies‡ To domestic private bodies§ To overseas Total To public bodies|| To domestic private bodies§ To overseas 1964–65 … 1,815 436 1,210 169 1,180 — 1,055 125 1965–66 … 1,943 473 1,292 178 1,229 — 1,103 126 1966–67 … 2,152 560 1,375 217 1,327 — 1,164 163 1967–68 … 2,481 670 1,569 242 1,556 — 1,375 181 1968–69 … 2,736 795 1,653 288 1,663 — 1,420 243 1969–70 … 2,967 901 1,686 380 1,759 — 1,430 329 1970–71 … 3,172 1,044 1,815 313 1,778 — 1,537 241 1971–72 … 3,469 1,172 1,986 311 1,878 — 1,703 175 1972–73 … 3,818 1,326 2,169 323 1,992 — 1,843 149 1973–74 … 4,845 1,528 2,886 431 2,530 — 2,331 199 1974–75 … 6,166 1,943 3,558 665 3,302 — 2,922 380 1975–76 … 7,549 2,432 4,279 838 4,003 — 3,494 509 1976–77 … 9,417 2,912 5,510 995 5,129 — 4,438 691 1977–78 … 10,522 3,131 6,186 1,205 5,813 — 5,217 596 Source: National Accounts and Balance of Payments Statistics. *Payments by central Government, local authorities and public corporations, including payments which they make to each other. †Gross payments less receipts of interests from other bodies by central Government, local authorities and public corporations, including amounts received from each other. ‡Excluding payments on central Government debt held by local authorities, and central Government and local authority debt held by public corporations, for which figures are not available but are believed to be relatively small. §Including payments on central Government debt held by local authorities, and central Government and local authority debt held by public corporations, for which figures are not available but are believed to be relatively small. ||Payments by the public sector to public bodies and receipe bythe public sector from public bodies cancel out by definition.