§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 12 December 2001,Official Report, column 891W, on child benefit, what the yield would be for 2002–03 of taxing child benefit payments to (a) recipients paying tax at the higher rate and (b) higher rate tax payers in a couple where one partner receives child benefit, with child benefit rates at £26.25 per week for the first child and £17.60 per week for subsequent children. [27317]
§ Dawn Primarolo[holding answer 15 January 2002]If child benefit were increased to £26.25 per week for the first child and £17.60 per week for subsequent children and made taxable for higher rate taxpayers, it is estimated that it would yield about £0.1 billion of income tax. If it were taxable at the higher rate for any family with a higher rate taxpayer (regardless of who received the benefit) it would yield around £1.0 billion of income tax.