§ Mr. MilburnTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the net revenue forgone as a result of the reduction in personal income tax for higher rate taxpayers introduced by the Finance Act 1988 and the total number of beneficiaries in each year by region.
§ Mr. DorrellAvailable information is given in the table. Some regional estimates are based on small samples and all amounts are given to the nearest £50 million.
§ Mr. DorrellThe total direct effect of the revenue and spending measures announced in the March and November Budgets is approximately £12 billion in 1994–95. The full-year yield from changing the basic rate of income tax by 1p is around £1.8 billion, so the basic rate would have to rise by about 7p in the pound to raise an equivalent sum. 967W This would be a far more damaging way of raising the funds required to get borrowing down than the measures announced by the Government in the last two Budgets.