HL Deb 06 May 1982 vol 429 cc1349-50WA
Lord Underhill

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Why the Co-operative Bank has had to pay special levy tax of 88.9 per cent. (£3.2 million) of its total profit for 1981 of £3.6 million, although the clearing banks paid on average only 18.8 per cent. of their profits, and what action the Government propose to take to adjust this situation.

The Secretary of State for Trade (Lord Cockfield)

The special tax on banking deposits imposed in 1981 was a levy based upon the average of non-interest bearing deposits held by a bank in the last quarter of 1980, irrespective of the level of the hank's profits. The rate of tax charged was 2 per cent. of the first £200 million of chargeable deposits and 2½ per cent. of the remainder. Those rates were of general application to banks liable to the levy.

House adjourned at nineteen minutes past nine o'clock.