§ Mr. Pardoeasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Report a list of direct and indirect taxes; and what was the percentage share of total tax revenue, including national insurance contributions, held by direct and indirect taxes in each year since 1960.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettWhen examining the balance of taxation, it is customary to define the direct and indirect taxes as follows:
Direct Taxes
Taxes on personal incomes:
- Income tax
- Surtax
Taxes on companies:
- Profits tax
- Corporation tax
- Petroleum revenue tax
Capital taxes:
- Capital gains tax
- Development land tax
- Estate duty
- Capital transfer tax
Employees' national insurance Contributions
Indirect Taxes
Central Government taxes on expenditure:
- Purchase tax
- Value added tax
- Customs and excise duties
- Vehicle excise duty
- Stamp duties
- Selective employment tax
- National insurance surcharge
Local authority rates
Employers' national insurance contributions
188WUsing these definitions, the following table shows the percentage share of total tax revenue accounted for by direct and indirect taxes in each year since 1959–60:
Direct taxes percentage of total Indirect taxes percentage of total 1959–60 48.8 51.2 1960–61 49.2 50.8 1961–62 50.3 49.7 1962–63 49.9 50.1 1963–64 48.6 51.4 1964–65 48.2 51.8 1965–66 49.0 51.0 1966–67 47.6 52.4 1967–68 49.0 51.0 1968–69 47.8 52.2 1969–70 49.0 51.0 1970–71 51.2 48.8 1971–72 51.7 48.3 1972–73 49.2 50.8 1973–74 51.3 48.7 1974–75 53.2 46.8 1975–76 52.4 47.6 1976–77 52.2 47.8 Estimated 1977–78 (after Finance Act) 49.4 50.6 Estimated 1977–78 (after October measures)* 48.6 51.4 * The October measures anticipated the requirement, under the Finance Act 1977, that the main personal allowances for 1978–79 should be increased in line with the retail price index. They have thus broadly offset fiscal drag in 1978–79. In making comparisons between the years, therefore, the relevant figure for 1977–78 is the post-Finance Act figure rather than that following the October measures.