§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, further to his reply of 25 January, Official Report, c. 392, to the hon. Member for Grimsby concerning the wife's earned income allowance, whether he will publish in the Official Report any information he has as to the distribution by range of joint income of the 2.3 million wives who pay no tax.
§ Mr. RidleyThe information which is readily available is at income levels of 1982–83, and shows non-taxpaying wives ranged by the couple's joint taxable income—total income less all reliefs and allowances available to them. The estimates are:
Range of joint taxable income, 1982–83 (lower limit) showing number wives with earned income on Indiana Revenue records who do not of pay tax £ Thousands Nil or negative 490 0 170 1,000 210 2,000 220 3,000 290 4,000 220 5,000 220 6,000 110 7,000 100 8,000 70 9,000 40 10,000 50 12,000 50 15,000 30 20,000 20 30,000 10 2,300
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether the figures given in his answer of 31 January, Official Report, c. 21–22, in reply to a question from the hon. Member for Grimsby, concerning the distribution of incomes and rates of tax, included unearned income and the surcharge on investment income;
(2) whether the number of incomes in column (c) in the tables published in the Official Report on 31 January, c. 22, concerning the distribution of taxable incomes, includes the wife's income as well as that of the husband.
§ Mr. RidleyAs stated in the reply referred to, total income includes all forms of income liable to tax, and thus does include investment income. Investment income surcharge is included in the figures for income tax from which the average rates were derived. The figures are in terms of tax units; that is, married couples are counted as one and their income combined. Hence the numbers in column(c) relate to the number of couples, and they are ranged by reference to their joint income.