§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the percentage of the income of each quintile group of the population which is taken in(a) direct tax and (b) indirect tax; and if he will provide a breakdown of this estimate for each of the main taxes. [111151]
§ Mr. TimmsThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Steve Webb, dated 22 February 2000:
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary question asking for an estimate of the percentage of the income of each quintile group of the population which is taken in (a) direct tax and (b) indirect tax; and for a breakdown of this estimate for each of the main taxes.The information that you requested is set out in the attached table. These figures are derived from Table 2A in Appendix 1 of the article `The effects of taxes and benefits on household income, 1997-98' published in the April 1999 edition of Economic Trends. The analyses in the article are based on data from the Family Expenditure Survey.