§ Mr. Couchmanasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he has any plans to seek powers to allow self-employed persons to offset against tax a proportion of their total social security contribution equal to that paid in the case of an employed person by the employer.
§ Mr. MooreThe difference between the tax treatment of the social security contributions paid by the self-employed and by employers in respect of their employees reflects the underlying differences. For an employer the contributions are a business expense which can therefore, like other business expenses, be deducted in arriving at his profits liable to tax. By contrast a self-employed person would benefit from his own contributions; they are a personal expense and, like other personal expenses, cannot be deducted in arriving at taxable profits. I have no plans to change this treatment.