§ Mr. Stallardasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the cost of taking out of taxation pensioners with an annual income of (a) £1,000, (b) £2,000 and (c) £5,000 above the present threshold for (i) single pensioners and (ii) married couples.
§ Mr. Ridley[pursuant to his reply, 7 July 1982, c. 115]: Pensioners cannot readily be distinguished from Inland Revenue records which identify only those tax units who may be entitled to the age allowance—that is, single people aged 65 or over and married couples with at least one spouse aged 65 or over.
The costs in a full year at 1982–83 income levels of raising the age allowances by the amounts specified are:
£ million Increase in allowance: (i) single people (ii) married couples (a) £1,000 270 230 (b) £2,000 440 390 (c) £5,000 930 1,220 In case (c) the level to which both single and married age allowances would be raised, would be above the present income limit (£6,700) for the full age allowance. That estimate therefore assumes that there would be no income limit for entitlement to age allowance.