Clause 13 - Relief from income tax and capital gains tax
Child Trust Funds Bill
9:30 am
Mr David Laws (Yeovil, Liberal Democrat)
Good morning to you, Mr. Benton, on the last full day of our proceedings.
The amendment invites the Treasury to table to Parliament a report setting out the cost to the taxpayer of the measures in the Bill, particularly those that
allow for greater tax relief than is usually the case. The context is our concern about whether the Treasury is dealing fairly and even-handedly with lower-income groups, as opposed to the upper-income groups that will benefit from extra tax relief.
Obviously, I shall not lead us away from the subject of the amendment, but the comments by the hon. Member for Tatton (Mr. Osborne) on the Financial Times article, which suggested that the subscription level would be £10 rather than £5, indicate that the Government might, as we feared, be moving in the direction of favouring upper-income over lower-income groups. The Financial Secretary denied the story, which suggested—I raised this suspicion last week—that low-income families will be unable to save £5 a month and will be forced to save at least £10 a month. We shall see whether the Minister or the story is correct when the regulations come out. I would wager a small sum on the Financial Times being correct, but we shall see. [Hon. Members: ''Disgraceful.''] Well, it is disgraceful if details have been leaked before the regulations have been issued.