asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what information he has about the average income of (a) retired single persons, including widowed, etc., and (b) retired married couples; and how much income tax they would pay on these incomes, assuming only normal basic allowances.

The latest available information is for 1973–74 and is as follows:

	Average Income	Average Tax Paid
	£	£
Single	1,375	265
Married	2,105	395

The figures are derived from the Inland Revenue's annual Survey of Personal Incomes. The averages relate to persons who are in receipt of a pension—retirement, occupational or widow's—or who are over 65 years of age, and whose incomes bring them above the tax threshold. Income is total net income as defined at page 42 of Inland Revenue Statistics 1975. The average tax paid is, of course, not the same as the tax that would have been paid for that year on the average income by a person only in receipt of the normal allowances.