§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of(a) the cost in excess of indexation of raising the personal tax allowance to £4,000 per annum and (b) the number of employees who would be taken out of the PAYE system, in addition to those who would be exempted by indexation. [4468]
§ Mr. Jack[holding answer 18 November 1996]: The full year cost in 1997–98, after allowing for statutory indexation, of increasing the non-age personal allowance to £4,000 and increasing the age allowances by an equivalent amount would be about £980 million. This would take about 350,000 people out of income tax including employees, self-employed people and pensioners, compared with statutory indexation.