Andrew George (St Ives, Liberal Democrat)

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much (a) individuals, (b) businesses, (c) estates and (d) other bodies in (i) Cornwall and (ii) the Isles of Scilly have paid in tax in each year since 1997.

Stephen Timms (Financial Secretary, HM Treasury; East Ham, Labour)

Information on individual taxpayers resident on the Isles of Scilly is not available as the sample size is too small to provide reliable estimates of income tax liability. Aggregate figures for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are shown in table 3.14 "Income and tax by borough and district or unitary authority" available at:

www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/menu-by-year.htm

It is not possible to provide reliable estimates for revenue received from other taxpayers at this geographical level for the following reasons:

a company's registered office may not reflect where economic activity occurs as companies may have business premises or trade anywhere;

VAT registration addresses may not match the location the trader operates from, for example a chain would only have one VAT registration covering all its branches; and

not all Inheritance Tax returns have a postcode, national estimates based on a sample of data.