§ 28. Mr. Marlowasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of taxable households comprising two parents and at least one child are in receipt of both married man's and single person's tax allowance; and how this compares with married households in receipt of two tax allowances.
§ Mr. RidleyI take it my hon. Friend has in mind households comprising two adults who are not married to each other. Such a household could be in receipt of both married man's and single person's tax allowance only if one of the two was a married man separated from his wife and maintaining her by means of a voluntary allowance. Such cases are very rare, whereas over 6 million married couples benefit from the married man's allowance and wife's earned income allowance.
§ 47. Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate by how much income tax would have to be reduced in April in order to ensure that a married man with two children on three-quarters of average earnings is paying the same percentage of his income on national insurance and income tax as he was on 1 May 1979.
§ Mr. RidleyOn the basis of the assumptions for 1983–84 in the autumn statement, a reduction of about 5p in the basic rate, or an increase of about £700 in the married man's allowance above its indexed level, would be needed for a married man with two children on three-quarters average earnings to pay the same percentage of his earnings in income tax plus national insurance contributions less child benefit in 1983–84 as in 1978–79.