HC Deb 09 March 2004 vol 418 cc1474-5W
Mr. Goodman

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost to his Department of administering(a) child care credit and (b) child tax credit was (i) in total and (ii) per claimant in the last year for which figures are available. [158078]

Dawn Primarolo

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Havant (Mr. Willetts) on 28 April 2003,Official Report, column 161W. On 30 January 2004 there were £6 million families in total benefiting from tax credits.

Mr. George Osborne

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the additional cost would be of raising the first threshold for those entitled to Child Tax Credit only for the year 2004–05 from £13,480 to £13,600; [159759]

(2) what the additional cost would be of raising the second income threshold for tax credits from £50,000 to £51,380; [159760]

(3) what the additional cost would be of raising the first income threshold for tax credits from £5,060 to £5,200; [159761]

(4) what the cost would be of raising the family element of the Child Tax Credit from £545 to £565 for 2004–05; [159762]

(5) what the cost would be of raising the family element of the Child Tax Credit to £1,130 for 2004–05. [159763]

Dawn Primarolo

I refer the hon. Member to table 4 "Direct effects of illustrative tax changes" on the HM Treasury website at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media//AAB24/pbr03_trr.pdf

The figures exclude any estimate of behavioural response to the tax credits changes.

Mr. George Osborne

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how much a family with a joint income before tax in 2004–05 of £52,000 will receive in child tax credit; and how much they would receive in child tax credit if the second income threshold was £51,380; [159764]

(2) how much a family with a joint income before tax of £14,000 in 2004 will receive in child tax credit; and how much they would receive if the first threshold for those entitled to child tax credit only was increased to £13,600; [159765]

(3) how much a family with a joint income before tax of £5,200 in 2004–05 will receive in tax credits; and how much they would receive if the first income threshold was £5,200. [159766]

Dawn Primarolo

The tax credit award a family receives depends on a variety of factors relating to their particular circumstances, not just their level of income.