§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, further to his reply dated 11 March concerning tax on privately-owned housing, whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for each income tax band (a) the average gain in post-tax income from raising the threshold by £250 and reducing the standard rate by 3.75p, respectively, (b) the implied rental value of the house in each case and (c) the implied capital value.
§ Mr. Peter ReesThe figures which follow are given at 1979–80 income levels and tax rates so as to be consistent with the earlier reply—[Vol. 980, c.539–40]. Assuming that the taxpayer was not within the first £250 of each income tax band, the gain in post-tax income if the tax threshold were raised by £250 would be as follows:
1979–80 income tax bands Gain £ Lower rate 62.50 Basic rate 75.00 40% 100.00 45% 112.50 50% 125.00 55% 137.50 60% 150.00 A reduction in the basic rate of tax by 3.75p would not benefit those paying tax at the lower rate. Basic rate taxpayers would gain varying amounts up to a maximum of £346 at the upper limit of the basic rate band and those on the higher rates would also benefit by up to that amount—depending on whether a married 20W couple benefited from one or two lower rate bands. The average of these varying amounts for all tax units—including both husbands and wives—is a gain of £96 per tax unit liable at the basic rate only and of £334 per tax unit liable at the higher rates.
I regret that the further information requested is not available, although some general information about expenditure on housing by income level may be found in table 6 of the report on the 1978 family expenditure survey published by HMSO.