Finance Bill

I beg the hon. Gentleman's pardon. There is a much wider group, therefore, than the 1.1 million remaining losers from the personal tax reform package, and that would mean an increase of at least about 5.6 million in the number of people who had to complete self-assessment tax returns. We have considered the taper, and for those reasons, we believe that a taper is not the right way to deliver, in the swift way in which we wish to deliver it, the help that we want to give to address the problem described. Her Majesty's Treasury estimates that the new clause still means that about 200,000 households would not be fully compensated. The point about pensioners illustrates the point. People aged 65 or over should benefit from significantly increased personal allowances. Low and middle-income pensioners can have an income of at least £9,030 before they pay tax. However, if individuals are concerned, as has been described this afternoon, that their tax code is not correct, they should obviously contact HMRC, which will seek to correct it as soon as possible. It is worth appreciating the fact that for pensioners with incomes over £21,800, subject to a taper to reduce additional allowances, it can be more difficult to get the allowance right in-year because of the complexity of the taper for pensions. That reinforces the point that I have been making that a taper is complex and would inevitably lead to many more people being required to self-assess. So I hope that my hon. Friend the Member for North-West Leicestershire will accept that.