§ Mr. Spellerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people over retirement age are currently paying income tax; and how many have no taxable emoluments.
§ Mr. Peter ReesA breakdown of income tax payers by age is not available. However, tax records do distinguish single people over 65 and married couples with at least one partner over 65, it is also possible to distinguish single women, but not widows or married women, aged 60 to 64 who have a retirement pension. Amongst these groups, there are about 3 million single people or married couples paying tax, of whom about 2 million do not have any income from employment.