§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, further to his reply to the hon. Member for Norfolk, North, Official Report, 25th July 1977, c. 75–6, if he will compare tax thresholds, supplementary benefit levels and family income supplement entitlement levels in January 1978 for each of a single person, a married couple, and families with each of one, two, three and four dependent children, including teenage children; and if he will give the comparable figures for January 1974.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonThe figures are as follows:
§ Mr. Leeasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will undertake to resist any proposed increase in value added tax consequent upon the decision to base contributions to the Common Market budget upon value added tax in any circumstances where such domestic value added tax increase would cause any increase in the United Kingdom cost-of-living index.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonThe introduction of the system of contributions to the EEC budget based on VAT "own resources", which is expected in 1979, will have no necessary consequences for the rates of VAT actually charged in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Sainsburyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the revenue lost if all construction work 73W on residential accommodation were to be value added tax zero rate.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonGenerally, construction work, with the exception of repair and maintenance, is already zero rated under the Finance Act 1972, schedule 4, group 8; but if the repair and maintenance work now charged at the standard rate were to be zero rated, the loss of revenue would be about £125 million in a full year.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the cost of zero rating for value added tax purposes of children's shoes.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonClothing and footwear designed for young children and not suitable for older persons is already zero rated under group 17 of schedule 4 to the Finance Act 1972, as amended. The cost of the relief for children's footwear in 1977 is estimated to have been in the order of £15 million.
§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it is in order for a trader to collect value added tax without giving to a registered trader who purchases from him his valued added tax registration number.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 28th July], gave the following information:
A VAT-registered trader is normally required to issue a tax invoice for any supply he makes to another VAT-registered trader. A tax invoice must include the supplier's VAT registration number.
§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it is in order for a trader to claim value added tax input in respect of a purchase for which he cannot show the value added tax registration number of his supplier.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 28th July 1978], gave the following information:
A trader must normally hold a tax invoice before he can take credit for input tax. Such a document must include the supplier's VAT registration number.
§ Mr. Trotterasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he proposes to 74W take action to correct the position resulting from the success of Her Majesty's Customs and Excise in claiming before the Manchester tribunal in the case of Emerald Electronics that distress signalling equipment for the elderly is chargeable to the higher rate of value added tax.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 27th July 1978], gave the following information:
No. A wide variety of domestic alarm equipment is chargeable at the higher rate of VAT under groups 1 and 2 of schedule 7 to the Finance (No. 2) Act 1975, and the introduction of new exceptions to schedule 7 would not be likely to reduce the incidence of anomalies in the tax.
The supply of a distress alarm for the benefit of a handicapped person by a local authority under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 is in effect free of VAT.