§ Matthew TaylorTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the proportion of income households in each income decile pay in council tax(a) net of council tax benefit and (b) gross; what assumptions on take—up were made in coming to the estimate; and if he will make a statement. [102867]
§ John HealeyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Matthew Taylor, dated 18 March 2003:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the proportion of income that households pay in council tax within each income decile. (102867)Estimates for council taxes are based on the analysis "The effects of taxes and benefits on household income 2000–01" 675W produced by the ONS and published on the National Statistics website on April 19th 2002 and in Economic Trends in the May 2002 edition. The analysis can be obtained from the House of Commons library. This includes measures of income inequality for the United Kingdom as a whole based on data from the Family Expenditure Survey.The attached table shows the estimated gross and net council tax for all households in Great Britain and for each income decile where households are ranked by equivalised disposable income.
Council tax as a percentage of gross income, 2000–01—Great Britain Percentages Decile groups of all households ranked b equivalised disposable income Bottom 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th Top All households Gross council tax 8.8 5.8 4.7 3.9 3.2 2.8 2.4 2.1 1.9 1.3 2.6 1 Net council taxes rates after deducting discounts. Source:
Office for National Statistics, 'The effects of taxes and benefits on household income,' published on the ONS website and in Economic Trends No. 582 May 2002