§ Mr. Crawfordasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the cost to the Exchequer of the raising of the threshold at which value added tax becomes payable by businesses to an annual turnover of £20,000.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon:The loss of revenue would depend on the number of registered persons who chose to de-register. If the proportion of those eligible to do so that de-registered was similar to the proportions when the limits were raised in October 1977 and April 670W 1978, it is estimated that doubling the registration limit to £20,000 taxable turnover a year and the de-registration limit to £17,000 a year might result in a revenue loss of about £15 million in a full year.