HC Deb 19 December 1985 vol 89 cc306-7W
Mr. Ashdown

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the level of indirect taxation, as a percentage of income, levied on a married man with two children earning (a) £8,000 and (b) £20,000 per annum in 1979 and the latest year for which figurs are available.

Mr. Brooke

Estimates of indirect tax payments cannot reliably be made at earnings levels as high as £20,000 in 1979–80. Estimates for a married man with two children earning £8,000 in 1979–80 and the same amount in real terms in 1985-86 are as follows:

Indirect taxes as a percentage of gross income
Percentage
1979–80 10.6
1985–86 11.0