HC Deb 04 February 1985 vol 72 cc401-2W
Mr. Ashley

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will set out in tabular form his estimate of the monthly loss of revenue to the Exchequer when an adult worker becomes unemployed, assuming that he or she was previously on full-time average weekly male or female earnings for (a) a single man, (b) a single woman and (c) a married man with a dependent wife and two children, giving in each case the loss of revenue from (i) income tax, (ii) indirect taxes, (iii) employers' national insurance contributions and (iv) employees' national insurance contributions;

(2) what is his estimate of the loss of revenue arising from an increase of 100,000 in the numbers unemployed from (a) income tax, (b) indirect taxes, (c) employers' national insurance contributions and (d) employees' national insurance contributions.

Mr. Lawson

Any such estimates would depend on a large number of arbitrary assumptions.