asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what tax allowances are available to the citizens of the nine EEC countries when they travel to work by public transport.
[pursuant to his reply,12 November 1979, c. 421]: The information requested is as follows:
Belgium, Denmark and France: A flat-rate deduction for expenses covers, amongst other things, the cost of travel to and from work.
Germany: The full cost is deductible.
Ireland and Italy: No allowance is given.
Luxembourg: The cost of travel to and from work by public transport for distances of up to 40 kilometres each way is deductible. But the cost of that portion of a journey to or from work in excess of 40 kilometres is only deductible in exceptional cases.
Netherlands: A flat-rate deduction for home to work travel costs is given, as follows:—
| Home to Work distance in kilometres | Deduction in florins |
| up to 10 | 200 |
| 10–15 | 700 |
| 15–20 | 1,050 |
| 20–30 | 1,600 |
| 30–40 | 2,200 |
| 40–50 | 2,620 |
| Over 50 | 3,260 |
asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the cost of introducing a £200 personal tax allowance for all those people who travel-to-work every day by public transport for a distance of 10 miles or more.
[pursuant to his reply,12 November 1979, c. 421]: I regret that the information on which to base satisfactory estimates is not available, but it is thought that the cost might be of the order of £50 million. There would also be substantial additional staff costs in the Inland Revenue in ascertaining the distance travelled by each taxpayer.
asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate how many workers would benefit if the United Kingdom was to adopt (a) the German system and (b) the Dutch system for deductibility of the costs of travel-to-work; and at what estimated total cost in terms of tax revenue forgone.
[pursuant to his reply,12 November 1979, c. 421]: It is estimated that about 18 million United Kingdom taxpayers would benefit from tax relief on travel-to-work expenses if the scheme of relief was based on the German or the Dutch systems, and that the total costs in each case would be about £300 million and £700 million respectively.
asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he plans to make the provision by the employer of a season ticket to employees, earning less than £5,000, chargeable to tax.
[pursuant to his reply,12 November 1979, c. 421]: We are currently reviewing the tax treatment of benefits in kind.