§ Mr. Frank Fieldasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of the tax revenue of £280 million derived in 1983–84 from taxing the benefit of company cars available for private use was attributable to the vehicle rather than to fuel; from how many cars this revenue was raised; what revenue would have been raised, excluding that raised from fuel, if the benefit had been taxed at its full worth, assuming the same number of cars in this category; and from how many more cars revenue would have been raised if people earning less than £8,500 had not been exempt.
§ Mr. Moore[pursuant to his reply, 6 June 1984, c. 185]: About two thirds (£190 million) of the estimated total yield in 1983–84 was from taxing the benefit of company cars available for private use rather than from fuel.
A provisional estimate, based on the family expenditure survey, suggests that in 1983–84 there were about 1½ million company cars available for private use. It is estimated that in 1983–84 about 1 million such cars attracted a tax charge under the special rules for taxing benefits in kind in the hands of directors and those employees earning at a rate of £8,500 or more a year.
I regret that information is not available on which to base a reliable estimate of the yield if the benefit from the private use of company cars were to be taxed at its "full worth".