§ Mr. AltonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received from the life assurance companies concerning the Inland Revenue review of life assurance; and if he will make a statement.
418Wadditional personal income tax allowance into one-parent and other benefits as suggested in paragraph 4.11 of Cmnd. 9756, he was also considering targeting the payment of one-parent and other benefits after the conversion of the additional personal allowance; to what extent the considerations set out in paragraphs 4.11 to 4.16 have been affected by his revised proposals for the separate taxation of husband and wife; and whether he has considered freezing, reducing or abolishing the additional personal allowance and/or one-parent allowance and/or child dependency addition to enable him to target the benefit to those families which he considers in most need of financial help.
§ Mr. Norman LamontI refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to him on 5 December at column54.
§ Mr. Ralph HowellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what information he has as to the starting rates of income tax in(a) the United Kingdom, (b) Germany, (c) the Netherlands, (d) Belgium, (e) Denmark. (f) France, (g) Japan and (h) the United States of America, for (i) 1969–70, (ii) 1979–80, (iii) 1984–85 and (iv) 1987–88 or the last available year, in £ sterling.
§ Mr. Norman LamontThe information requested is given in the table.
§ Mr. Norman LamontI have received a number of substantial responses and I am studying them carefully. I will take account of all that has been said in coming to decisions on the future of the life assurance tax regime.
§ Mr. AltonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he intends to close his consultation on his document, "The Taxation of Life Assurance"; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Norman LamontI am currently considering responses to the Inland Revenue consultative document on the taxation of life assurance. There is much to digest before I can decide the best way forward and the extent of further consultation.
§ Mr. AltonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was(a) the growth in tax yield from life offices and (b) the growth in life assurance business between 1982 and 1987, measured by total funds, taxable funds and taxable income.
§ Mr. Norman LamontThe figures requested are not available from official sources and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The Association of British Insurers in its response to the Inland Revenue consultative document on the taxation of life assurance offered 419W estimates of the growth rates described in the question based on a sample of life offices. I am sure that the association would let the hon. Member have details on request.