§ Mr. Ieuan Wyn JonesTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make an estimate of the change in Treasury income during the 1988–89 financial year resulting from setting income tax allowances at the following rates: single person £2,600, married male nil, partners income £2,600, children £1,560, blind £600, widower £1,560, single person aged 60 to 74 years £3,130, married person aged 60 to 74 years £4,950, maximum allowance for people aged 60 to 74 years £10,500, single person aged 75 years £3,350, married person aged 75 plus years £5,230, and maximum allowance for people aged 75 plus years £10,500.
§ Mr. Norman Lamont[holding answer 19 January 1988]: The direct revenue cost in a full year at 1988–89 levels of income of the proposed regime would be just over £1 billion more than the cost of indexation of the current tax regime in accordance with the statutory formula. The estimates assume that the wife's earninings election is made where it is beneficial, but no other allowance is made for posssible changes in taxpayers' behaviour.