§ Dr. McDonaldasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether his Department has undertaken or plans to undertake a review of the scope of tax expenditure; and what is his view of the current level of tax expenditure in the United Kingdom;
(2) if he will compile and publish a tax expenditure account along the lines of the tax expenditure budget published in the United States of America and the tax expenditure account proposed by the Canadian Government.
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§ Mr. BiffenI have no plans to undertake such a review or to publish a tax expenditure account. It is very much a matter of opinion which tax reliefs should appropriately be considered in the context of public expenditure. Work is, however, in hand on preparing estimates of the costs of direct tax allowances and reliefs and these will be published in due course.