---

(Clauses 1, 4, 8, 189 and 209, Schedules 1, 23 and 33, and new Clauses and new Schedules relating to value added tax)

There are four problems with the proposal that the Government are putting to the House this evening. First, it is unfair. The hon. Member for Christchurch (Mr Chope) made it clear that it is unfair as between family patterns of income, unfair as between men and women, and unfair as between those who have children and those who do not. Secondly, the proposal is illogical. Because it is unfair as between those who have children and those who do not, it would be more sensible, in order to have a fairer approach, to address the fact that personal allowances are paid to people on very high incomes. If the Minister is concerned about people on very high incomes, he would do better to shave the personal allowances of people on such incomes, but far from doing that, what he did was cut income tax for those people. That is illogical. Thirdly, the proposal adds to complexity. I hope the Minister can explain to the House how he will maintain the independence of women's taxation, given the information sharing requirements of the new system.