§ Mr. Wrigglesworthasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the total of net receipts of tax from self-employed taxpayers for each of the last five financial years.
§ Mr. MooreThe available information relates to tax units (ie counting married couples as one unit) whose main source of income — usually but not always the largest source—is self-employment income, and is in terms of the total liability to income tax in each tax year including investment income surcharge and the liability on income taxed at source.
Year £ billion 1980–81 2.6 1981–82 3.1 1982–83 3.5 1983–84* 3.5 1984–85* 4 * Provisional estimate. The tax will normally be received partly in the tax year and partly in the following year.
Over the period from mid 1980 to mid-1984 the number of self-employed person is estimated to have grown by almost a quarter.