§ Mr. Bestasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much extra tax will be payable in a full year by (a) a single person and (b) a couple, in receipt of no income other than retirement pension, as a result of his decision not to increase personal allowances.
§ Mr. Peter ReesNone, if no pension other than the flat-rate pension is received. This is below the level of the tax allowance available to elderly persons aged 65 or over. In the case of single women and widows aged 60–64, the basic pension exceeds the ordinary tax allowance for single persons, but the tax liability is within the Inland Revenue's administrative tolerances for assessment to tax.
If the retirement pension is received with graduated pension additions, additional components or deferred retirement increments, liability to tax is unlikely to arise in the case of elderly couples or elderly single persons aged 65 or more unless they have other income as well. It is not known how many single women or widows aged 60–64 in receipt of retirement pension have additions to their pension but no other income. The number is not thought to be large, but it is not possible to estimate either the extra tax liability or the extra tax payable after taking account of the assessing tolerances.