Clause 2
Finance Bill
12:45 pm
Philip Hammond (Shadow Chief Secretary To the Treasury, Treasury; Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
The Minister has made her points on the clause, but lest anyone has missed the point or was inadvertently misled by the focus that, not surprisingly, the Government put on the increased rates of personal allowance for those over the ages of 65 and 75, will she confirm that the clawback remains in place and that anyone earning more than £20,100 will have the benefit of the additional age allowance clawed back? Will she confirm at what income the beneficial effect of the higher allowance is completely removed? I believe that it is about £24,000. Will she clarify that?
Will the Minister also confirm that the £20,100 threshold provided under the Income Tax Act 2007 has not been increased by an indexation allowance to reflect inflation? The clawback is becoming more aggressive, because the amount has not been increased and there is no provision in existing statute or in the Bill to index that threshold. Will she give the Committee an indication about the Government’s policy on indexing that threshold? If it is not indexed, its value will erode and the effect of the clawback will become more aggressive.