§ Miss Richardsonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table showing for April of each year since 1974 and including the current year the number of recipients of family income supplement who are also liable for income tax and the percentage of all family income supplement recipients these represent; and if he will make a similar estimate for after 24 November.
§ Mr. Peter Rees[pursuant to his reply, 14 April 1980, c. 515–16]: Information is not collected in the form requested, but the following estimates, up to the most recent date available may be helpful:
FIS recipients Estimated numbers above tax threshold when benefit was claimed in previous year % of recipients April 1974 75,210 15,000 20 April 1975 56,370 12,300 22 April 1976 59,840 27,740 46 April 1977 83,570 46,400 56 April 1978 95,720 59,470 62 October 1979 70,160 50,360 72 The number of FIS recipients in April 1979 was 77,610, but the analysis by income range necessary for the calculation of numbers above the tax threshold is not available for that month.
In calculating the tax threshold, assumptions had to be made about the 660W ages of the children. In families of up to four children, they were assumed to be under 11. For families with five to eight children, it was assumed that four were under 11 and the rest 11–16. In families of nine children or more, four were assumed to be under 11, four 11–16 and the remainder over 16.