§ Mr. Higginsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the yield from non-domestic rates in the latest year for which figures are available, and what increase in corporation tax would be needed to raise the same amount.
§ Sir Geoffrey Howe[pursuant to his reply, 11 June 1981]: The yield from non-domestic rates in 1980–81 was £5 billion. In that year, the rate of corporation tax on taxable profits was 52 per cent.—40 per cent. for small companies—and the yield was £4.6 billion. To raise a further £5 billion from corporation tax would, as a matter of arithmetic, require an increase in the rate to near or in excess of 100 per cent.