HC Deb 19 December 1990 vol 183 cc177-8W
Mr. Tim Smith

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the threshold for the payment of higher rate income tax would be if it were restored to its 1988 level in real terms; and what the cost to the Exchequer would be of so restoring it.

Mr. Maude

It is estimated that the basic rate limit for 1990–91 would be £22,900 of taxable income it if were set at its 1988–89 level after allowing for the movement in the retail prices index between the two financial years. The direct revenue cost would be about £500 million in a full year.