Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-02-11.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the HM Revenue and Customs policy paper, Income tax: changes to dividend taxation, published in December 2015, if he will publish the data and calculations used as the basis for the statement that 95 per cent of all taxpayers will either gain or be unaffected by changes to dividend taxes.
Mr David Gauke
The HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) policy paper “Income Tax: changes to dividend taxation” sets out the estimated impacts of the reforms to dividend taxation announced in Summer Budget 2015. At Summer Budget 2015, the Chancellor announced that the dividend tax credit will be replaced by a new £5,000 tax-free dividend allowance from April 2016 and that dividend tax rates would be amended from the same date.
The tax base comprises dividend income subject to income tax, estimated using the Survey of Personal Incomes and other HMRC administrative data, and projected in line with OBR determinants. This is used to calculate the number of affected persons.
An explanation of the methodology can be found in the Summer Budget 2015 policy costings document:
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