§ Mr. Rookerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, in order to give more realistic and acceptable examples of 85W future income tax changes, he will base examples of changes on the median earnings of manual men and not average earnings of all men.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 23rd February 1978; Vol. 944, c. 783], gave the following information.
A variety of illustrations of the effects of tax changes are usually given though, for brevity, effects on a worker on average earnings may be selected as a particular example. I think that the average is more readily understood than the median, but if hon. Members wish to specify alternative measures I will do my best to supply answers.