Tax Credits

Part of National Insurance Contributions (Rate Ceilings) Bill (Programme) – in the House of Commons at 4:33 pm on 15 September 2015.

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Photo of Mark Garnier Mark Garnier Conservative, Wyre Forest 4:33, 15 September 2015

I am not going to pretend that it is easy to stand up and speak in favour of something that is, as Seema Malhotra has said, going to be tough on families, but this is none the less the right thing to do. We have heard a great many estimates of how families are going to be affected, with a variety being produced by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The one that I have seen gives a figure of £750.

This measure will affect families, but it is worth bearing in mind the fact that there are mitigating factors that will make a difference for those families. We have heard about the tax threshold increases, and it is also worth bearing it in mind that many of those families are also small and micro-business owners who have benefited from reliefs on business taxes and small business rate relief. The economy is also a lot better, with very low inflation rates at the moment.