§ Dr. McDonaldasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing his most recent estimate of the scope for tax cuts, fiscal adjustment, between 1985 and 1988 and his most recent estimate of the proceeds from asset sales in the same period.
§ Mr. MooreThe 1985 Financial Statement and Budget Report gives the latest estimate of the fiscal adjustment up to the financial year 1988–89. It also shows estimated special sales of assets on the assumption that these will be the same in cash terms in 1988–89 as in the preceding two years.
§ Dr. McDonaldasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table in the Official Report showing the fiscal adjustment for each year from 1979 to date.
§ Mr. MooreIn the medium-term financial strategy, last updated in the 1985 Financial Statement and Budget Report, general Government revenues are projected on the assumption of constant tax rates and indexed allowances and thresholds. Given the Government's plans for public expenditure and their objectives for public borrowing, the fiscal adjustment represents the estimated future scope for lower taxation (or higher spending). It is not a meaningful concept for the past.
The estimated effects of the tax proposals and public expenditure measures in each Budget are shown in the corresponding Financial Statement and Budget Report.