Taxation: Income Tax

Questions

Asked by

Lord Selkirk of Douglas
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many of those domiciled in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Northern Ireland, and (d) Wales pay income tax; and what those figures represent as percentages of the respective populations. [HL4607]

Asked by

Lord Selkirk of Douglas
To ask Her Majesty's Government how HM Revenue and Customs determines which taxpayers are English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish. [HL4608]

The Financial Services Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Myners)
The numbers of people liable to pay income tax in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales can be found in Table 2.2 “Number of individual income taxpayers by country and region” on the HM Revenue and Customs website at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_tax/menu.htm.

The published table includes the information shown below.

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|Year      |England|Wales|Scotland|Northern Ireland|
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|2006-07(2)|26,600 |1,480|2,700   |785             |
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|2007-08(3)|27,000 |1,500|2,740   |796             |
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|2008-09(3)|25,900 |1,430|2,630   |761             |
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|2009-10(3)|24,600 |1,360|2,510   |721             |
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(1) Estimates have been rounded to three significant figures.

(2) Latest year of the Survey of Personal incomes.

(3) Projected estimates based on the 2006-07 Survey of Personal incomes in line with Budget 2009.

The postcodes of taxpayers are mapped to a range of administrative, political and other geographical categorisations for statistical purposes.

The proportion of the total population, or adult population, which taxpayers in each country represent, can be based on population estimates and projections published by the Office of National Statistics on their website at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product .asp?vlnk=15106and http://www.statistics.gov.uk/ STATBASE/Product.asp?vlnk=8519.

Population estimates and projections for all ages are given in the table below.

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|Year       |England |Wales  |Scotland|Northern Ireland|
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|Mid-2006(1)|50,762.9|2,965.9|5,116.9 |1,741.6         |
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|Mid-2007(1)|51,092.0|2,980.0|5,144.2 |1,759.1         |
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|Mid-2008(2)|51,487.6|2,993.4|5,157.1 |1,773.6         |
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|Mid-2009(2)|51,888.3|3,007.7|5,174.6 |1,786.9         |
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(1) Population estimates.

(2) Population projections.

Asked by

Lord Selkirk of Douglas
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether HM Revenue and Customs has procedures in place to determine who is a Scottish taxpayer for the purpose of a decision by the Scottish Parliament to vary the basic rate of income tax for Scottish taxpayers under Part IV of the Scotland Act 1998. [HL4609]

Lord Myners
Yes.