To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his most recent estimate is of the average per capita tax paid by each income decile group. (115448)

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 7 February 2007:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question asking what the most recent estimate is of the average per capita tax paid by each income decile group. (115448)

Estimates of the tax paid by households are provided in the ONS analysis "The effects of taxes and benefits on household income". The latest analysis for 2004-05 was published on the National Statistics website on 12 May 2006 at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/taxesbenefits. The analysis is based on data from the expenditure and food survey, which is a sample survey covering approximately 7,000 households in the UK.

The results in the article are presented for households rather than on a per capita basis. However, the following table shows average tax paid per capita within each household decile group. A more detailed breakdown showing each of the different taxes appears in the annual article (although presented as household averages, rather than per capita).

The direct taxes include income tax (after deduction of tax credits), employees' National Insurance contributions, and council tax. The indirect taxes include VAT, and duties, and a number of smaller items such as television licences. Indirect taxes also include intermediate taxes - these are indirect taxes paid by companies which are deemed to be passed onto households through the prices they pay for goods and services. More details are available in the article.