Asked by: Nick Fletcher (Conservative - Don Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make a comparative assessment of the equity of the application of the High Income Child Benefit Charge on total family incomes for families where (a) one partner earns above the threshold and the other does not work and (b) two partners each earn below the threshold but whose joint income would be above the threshold if it had been earned by a single person.
Answered by John Glen
The Government introduced the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) from January 2013 to ensure that support for families is targeted at those who need it most. The tax charge applies to anyone with an individual income over £50,000 who claims Child Benefit, or whose partner claims it, regardless of family make-up.
HICBC is calculated on an individual rather than a household basis, in line with other income tax policy. Basing HICBC on household income would effectively introduce a new means test, which would be costly to administer and create burdens on the majority of families who receive Child Benefit.
The current approach only requires a small number of Child Benefit claimants to complete a self assessment tax return to report and pay HICBC, while leaving the vast majority of claimants unaffected.
Asked by: Nick Fletcher (Conservative - Don Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has plans to reduce the VAT charged on the installation of water fountains for public use in public parks.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The installation of water fountains for public use in public parks is subject to the standard rate of VAT.
VAT raised around £130 billion in 2019/20, and helps to fund key spending priorities. Any reduction in tax paid is a reduction in the money available to support important public services, including the NHS and policing. In addition, this request should be viewed in the context of over £50 billion of requests for relief from VAT received since the EU referendum. Such costs would have to be balanced by increased taxes elsewhere, or reductions in Government spending.
There are no current plans to change the VAT treatment of the installation of water fountains for public use in public parks. However, the Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Nick Fletcher (Conservative - Don Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the affordability in terms of public finances of introducing a favourable tax regime for the purchase of electric vehicles.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
The Government currently uses the tax system to encourage the uptake of vehicles with low carbon dioxide emissions to help meet our legally binding climate change targets. This is why zero emission cars and electric vans are liable to pay no Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), and why users of zero and ultra-low emission cars have favourable company car tax (CCT) rates in comparison to conventionally fuelled vehicles.
The Net Zero Review interim report published by HM Treasury in December last year highlighted that structural changes in the economy related to net zero will have fiscal implications. Much of the revenue from fossil fuel-based taxes is likely to be eroded during the transition to a net zero economy. However, there is currently a high level of uncertainty regarding the rate at which receipts decline.
As the UK moves forward with the transition away from petrol and diesel cars and vans, the Government will need to ensure that revenue from motoring taxes keeps pace with this change, so that the Government can continue to fund the first-class public services and infrastructure that people and families across the UK expect. Any changes to the tax system will be considered by the Chancellor and any further steps will be announced in due course.