HC Deb 13 June 1980 vol 986 cc325-6W
Mr. Forrester

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why the figures given in the answers in the Official Report, 14 May, columns 477–8 which show the total of value added tax from petrol and of value added tax from motor vehicle sales in 1979–80 of £1,225 million, differ from the total of £1,330 million given in the Official Report, 20 February, column 216.

Mr. Peter Rees

[pursuant to his reply, 11 June 1980, c.201]: About half the difference is accounted for by reductions between February and May in the estimates of expenditure, and hence VAT, on petrol and motor vehicles. For the remainder. I regret that estimates of VAT on secondhand cars of about £50 million in 1979–80 and about £70 million in 1980–81 were omitted from the answer on 14 May to the hon. Member.

Mr. Forrester

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state for both 1979–80 and 1980–81 the estimated gallonage of petrol sales, the estimated average retail price, the gross value added tax payable on the retail sales value and the net value added lax revenue ; and whether the volume of petrol sales for the purposes of the value added tax calculation given in the Official Report, 14 May, column 478 is consistent with the volume implied by the excise duty revenue given in each year.

Mr. Peter Rees

[pursuant to his reply, 11 June 1980, c.201]: Statistics of deliveries of motor spirit are compiled by the Department of Energy and published in the Energy Trends series. The quantity delivered in 1979–80 was 18,964 thousand tonnes—about 5,600 million gallons. The Department does not publish annual forecasts of motor spirit deliveries.

Reliable annual average retail prices of petrol for the two years are not available. The typical pump price, including VAT, of four star petrol in 1979–80 rose from about 88 pence per gallon in April 1979 to about £1.23 by March 1980. A typical pump price for four star petrol at the beginning of June was £1.35 per gallon.

Not all petrol is sold to users through retail outlets and the gross VAT charged at retail is not known. Because businesses registered for VAT are able to deduct the VAT charged on their purchases, the estimates of net VAT revenue in my reply of 14 May to the hon. Member were derived from statistics and forecasts of consumers' expenditure.