§ Mr. MaudeTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of individuals with income below that necessary to pay the lower rate of income tax in the tax year(a) 1996–97, (b) 1997–98 and (c) 1998–99. [47227]
617W
§ Dawn PrimaroloInformation on the number of individuals with no income tax liability is given in the following table.
Year Number of individuals with no income tax liability (000) 1996–97 19,800 1997–98 19,600 1998–99 19,800 An individual is defined as any person aged 19 or over and any person aged 16–18 who is not in full-time education and, hence, is not eligible to have child benefit received on their behalf.
These estimates are based on projections taken from the 1995–96 Survey of Personal Incomes, population estimates provided by the Government Actuary's Department, and case load estimates of the numbers of children for whom child benefit is received provided by the DSS.