I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.
I would like once again to briefly outline the provisions of this Finance Bill. These measures demonstrate the Government’s commitment to support working people, support business and protect the public finances by tackling tax avoidance and evasion. They mark the next steps on our path to economic security, building on the economic foundations laid in the last Parliament and continuing our long-term plan for the economic stability and prosperity of this country.
Let me turn first to the support that the Bill provides for working people. This Government are committed to the principle that hard-working people should keep more of the money they earn. That is why, following the measures introduced in the last Parliament, 27.5 million individuals saw their typical income tax bill reduced by £825, but we want to go further. This Bill increases the tax-free personal allowance to £11,000 in 2016-17 and to £11,200 in 2017-18. We will also increase the higher rate threshold, from £42,385 in 2015-16 to £43,000 in 2016-17. The Government also believe that individuals working 30 hours a week on the national minimum wage should not pay income tax. That is why we are enshrining it in law that once the personal allowance has reached £12,500, it will always be at least the equivalent of 30 hours a week on the national minimum wage.
It is a basic human aspiration to pass something on to one’s children, an aspiration the Government are committed to supporting. The Bill will help people to provide for their families after they have gone by phasing in a new £175,000 per person transferable allowance, when a person’s home is passed on at death to their direct descendants. By the end of the Parliament, the effective inheritance tax threshold for married couples and civil partners will therefore be £1 million.