§ Mr. RuaneTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the amount of income kept after taxes for each decile of the population in each of the last 20 years. [139602]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson[holding answer 21 November 20001]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from John Pullinger to Mr. Chris Ruane, dated 23 November 2000
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question on the amount of income kept after taxes for each decile of the population in each of the last 20 years (139695). I am replying in his absence.I would refer you to figures of average household incomes by decile groups given in a series of articles, "The effects of taxes and benefits on household income", published in Economic Trends since the 1960s. The latest article, giving the figures for 1998–99, appeared in the April 2000 edition. The figures you require are in Table 2A. Appendix 1, page 62. This table shows both disposable income, which is after direct taxes (Income tax, National Insurance contributions and Local taxes), and post tax income, which is after both direct taxes and indirect taxes (such as VAT, tobacco duty etc). Details of which previous editions of Economic Trends carry the earlier articles in this series can be found on page 83 of this publication. I understand that the House of Commons Library contains the necessary back issues of Economic Trends.Comparisons of the latest figures with the corresponding figures in earlier articles in this series should be made with caution because of changes in coverage and treatment over the years. The methodology appendix on pages 76 to 83 of the latest article contains a description of these changes.