To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the annual cost to the Exchequer of cutting VAT to 15 per cent. which is accounted for by expenditure by households in each income decile. (262311)

I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave to her on 10 March 2009, Official Report, columns 262-63W.

In addition, table 14 in “The Effects of Taxes and Benefits on Household Incomes, 2006-07”, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/elmr/07_08/downloads/ELMR_Jul08_Jones.pdf, presents information on spending on VAT, on average, accounted for by households in each income decile.

The Treasury has made no such assessment, but from these proportions it is possible to infer the estimated annual cost of the VAT rate reduction by income decile (although such estimates would be unreliable).

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the annual cost to the Exchequer of reducing the rate of value added tax to 15 per cent. accounted for by households where the head of the household is aged (a) 25 or under, (b) 26 to 30, (c) 31 to 35, (d) 36 to 40, (e) 41 to 45, (f) 46 to 50, (g) 51 to 55, (h) 56 to 60, (i) 61 to 65, (j) 66 to 70, (k) 71 to 75, (l) 76 to 80 and (m) over 80. (264202)

No such estimate has been made.