§ Sir Anthony Meyerasked the Secretary of State for Wales what changes are proposed in the Welsh Office cash limits announced in Cmnd. 7604 to enable the Welsh Development Agency to continue what its special steel closures construction programme already announced for Cardiff and Ebbw Vale.
§ Mr. Nicholas Edwards; The information is as follows:
tion and development allowances and management and maintenance allowances paid over by registered primary housing co-operatives to secondary housing co-operatives or housing associations acting as their development or management agents.
§ Mr. Peter ReesI am afraid that this information is not available because persons registered for VAT are not required to make returns of the tax charged on particular goods and services.
§ Mr. Roy Hughesasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the number of gallons of motor spirit sold in 1978–79 and estimated for 1979–80; what is the revenue from excise duty in each year; what is the estimated average retail price in each year; what is the estimated net revenue from value added tax in each year; and what is the proportion of gross value added tax revenue from petrol reclaimable by business users.
§ Mr. Peter ReesStatistics of deliveries of motor spirit are compiled by the Department of Energy and published in theMonthly Digest of Statistics. The quantity delivered in 1978–79 was 18,518 thousand tonnes—about 5,450 million gallons. The Department does not publish annual forecasts of motor spirit deliveries.
The estimates of excise duty revenue on petrol, as given in my reply to the hon. Member on 19 June 1979, are £1,665 549W million in 1978–79 and £1,960 million in 1979–80.
The average pump price of four-star petrol in 1978–79 was about 78p per gallon. The pump price of four-star petrol rose sharply at the end of May 1979 and currently ranges from £1.17 per gallon upwards.
The estimates of revenue from VAT on petrol given in my reply on 19 June were £300 million in 1978–79 and £375 million in 1979–80. The estimate for 1979–80 needs to be raised to £400 million or so in the light of recent increases in the price of petrol.
It is estimated that about one-third of VAT charged on sales of petrol is deductible by businesses registered for VAT.
§ Mr. John Mackayasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will consider seeking to rebate value added tax payments on holidays booked from abroad and paid for in foreign currency.
§ Mr. Peter ReesNo. VAT is a broad-based tax on consumer expenditure, and reliefs can be justified only on the most stringent criteria. It would not be appropriate to relieve the provision of holidays from VAT, whether such relief was general or limited to holidays enjoyed by foreign visitors.
§ Sir Anthony Royleasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take action to remove value added tax from theatre tickets in view of the deteriorating situation and possible collapse of the theatrical profession.
§ Mr. Peter ReesNo. This would be inconsistent with the Government's policy of switching some of the tax burden from taxes on earnings to taxes on spending in order to restore incentives and increase the freedom of choice of the individual. Moreover, the introduction of a relief for the theatre would lead to many anomalies, to the gradual erosion of the base of the tax and to a serious loss of revenue.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the expected yield from increasing value added tax on theatre tickets for theatres in the city of Manchester and the North-West region, respectively.
550W
§ Mr. Peter ReesI am afraid that the information on which to make such estimates is not available.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the expected yield from increasing value added tax on theatre tickets in the current financial year and in the year 1980–81; what representations he has received about the effect on the arts of this increase in taxation; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter ReesDepending on the definition of "theatre", the increase in revenue might be of the order of £5 million in 1979–80 and £10 million in a full year. A number of representations have been received, mainly from people professionally interested in the theatre. I have no statement to make other than to refer to my reply today to my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Sir A. Royle).
§ Mr. Fieldasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will update the answer given to the hon. Member for Bedwellty (Mr. Kinnock) on rates of value added tax,Official Report, 24 May 1977, c.434.
(2) if he will publish the rate of value added tax on children's clothing of each of the member States of the EEC.
§ Mr. Peter ReesThe rate of VAT on children's clothing in each of the EEC member States is as follows:
Country Rate (per cent.) Belgium … 16 (leather and fur clothing: 25) Denmark … 20.25 France … 17.6 (leather and fur clothing: 33⅓) Germany … 13 Ireland … 0 (fur clothing: 20) Italy … 9 (fur clothing: 35) Luxembourg … 10 Netherlands … 18 United Kingdom … 0 (fur clothing: 15) The United Kingdom is the only EEC member State which, distinguishes between children's clothing and adult clothing.