Income Tax

Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton Excerpts

Wednesday 19th November 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Newby]

My Lords, the amount of income tax paid by the top 1% is now 28% of the total income tax revenues, which is the highest proportion it has ever been. That is because this Government have put substantially more money into fighting tax avoidance and evasion—far, far more—than the previous Administration.

[Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton (Lab)]

My Lords, we have heard various Ministers refer to government employees in terms of paying the living wage. It appears to be a sort of “This ministry does, this ministry doesn’t” situation. Why does not the whole of government do that, particularly given that some of the people who work in those government departments live in London, where the cost of living is very high?

[Lord Newby]

My Lords, the Government support the principle of paying the minimum wage. A number of government departments are already doing it and others are considering introducing it.