§ Mr. Lawsonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table showing, for a married man with no investment income and an earned income of £2,000, £3,000, £4,000, £5,000, £6,000, £7,000, £8,000, £9,000, £10,000 and £15,000, respectively (a) the proportion of his total income taken in tax on the basis of the proposals contained in the Budget Statement and (b) the proportion of his total income that would be taken in tax if the married allowance were raised to £1,700, the lower rate and basic rate of tax consolidated at 30 per cent., the higher rate threshold raised to £8,000 of taxable income, and the higher rates consolidated at 60 per cent.; and what would be the cost to the Revenue in a full year of implementing the proposals implicit in (b) above, assuming a similar increase in the single allowance.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 8th May 1978; Vol. 949, c. 355], gave the following information:
Proportion of total income taken in tax Income (a) (b) £ 2,000 5.8 4.5 3,000 14.4 13.0 4,000 19.3 17.3 5,000 22.2 19.8 6,000 24.2 21.5 7,000 25.6 22.7 8,000 26.6 23.6 9,000 27.8 24.3 10,000 29.2 25.8 15,000 37.9 37.2 At 1978–79 income levels and after taking account of the changes in the Budget Statement, the estimated cost of introducing the allowances and rates specified by the hon. Member is about £2,050 million.