HL Deb 12 March 1984 vol 449 c624WA
Lord Wigoder

asked Her Majesty's Government:

In relation to Cmnd. 9143:

  1. (i) whether the administrative and other costs of raising the revenue which was publicly expended in 1982–83 are all included in the category "Common Services";
  2. (ii) if so, what part of the latter sum may be attributed to such revenue-raising by the Boards of Inland Revenue, of Customs and Excise, and of other departments (if any);
  3. (iii) if the costs of raising revenue are not included under "Common Services", do they appear as a part of other departmental expenditure, and if so, of which departments, and (respectively) to what extent.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Cockfield)

The direct administrative costs of raising taxation appear in the category "Other Public Services" and not in "Common Services". Details for the Customs and Excise and Inland Revenue departments are given in the "Other Public Services" section of Volume 2 of Cmnd. 9143, at pages 93–96. While the two revenue departments incur a share of "Common Services" expenditure, mainly for civil superannuation. it is not possible without a major administrative effort to identify separately the share for these two departments.