§ Mr. John Marshallasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate in how many cases mortgage tax relief is given to more than one individual in respect of the same mortgage.
§ Mr. Norman LamontI assume that my hon. Friend is interested in the number of unmarried sharers who receive mortgage interest relief on a shared loan. Although firm information is not available, it is tentatively estimated that about 500,000 single people are involved in multiple borrower mortgages in respect of around 250,000 properties.
§ Mr. Nigel Griffithsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will give the average mortgage interest
458Wtax relief per person in (a) Scotland and (b) the United Kingdom in each year from 1977 to 1987, repriced for inflation;
(2) if he will give the average mortgage interest tax relief per person in (a) Scotland and (b) the United Kingdom in each year from 1977 to 1987.
§ Mr. Norman LamontEstimates for the years 1977–78 to 1982–83 have been derived from the result of the survey of personal incomes and are given in the table.
Following the introduction of MIRAS in April 1983, estimates of the average value of mortgage interest tax relief in Scotland cannot be extracted from Inland Revenue records. Estimates of the amounts attributable to Scotland can be derived from the family expenditure survey (FES) but, as the sample size for the FES is relatively small, it is not possible to derive a robust estimate of the trend in the average amount received by mortgagors in Scotland after 1982–83. For 1983–84 onwards, the table therefore shows figures only for mortgagors in the whole of the United Kingdom.
FES data for 1983 to 1985 suggest that average mortgage interest tax relief per mortgagor in Scotland was about 15 per cent. higher than the average for the United Kingdom.
Average mortgage interest tax relief per mortgagor Scotland United Kingdom Outturn prices 11987–88 prices Outturn prices 11987–88 prices £ £ £ £ 1977–78 200 440 190 415 1978–79 220 440 200 400 1979–80 270 470 245 425 1980–81 370 550 335 500 1981–82 385 515 350 470 1982–83 390 485 350 440 1983–84 n/a n/a 365 440 1984–85 n/a n/a 450 515 1985–862 n/a n/a 565 605 1986–872 n/a n/a 550 570 1987–883 n/a n/a 565 565 1 Revalued with respect to the Retail Prices Index. 2 Provisional. 3 Forecast. n/a Not available.