asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what rate of tax would produce the same yield as present income tax, social security contributions and local authority domestic rates combined, assuming no reduced bands of tax and no tax allowances or concessions of any kind.

[pursuant to his reply, 4 March 1980, c. 144]: The rate required to replace income tax, national insurance contributions (other than those paid by employers), and domestic rates, would be about 19 per cent. at the 1979–80 income levels. The number of persons liable to tax would be increased by some 11 million, including four million pensioners.