I propose to answer Questions Nos. 102 and 113 together. I do not accept that there is discrimination in tax treatment as between widowed persons, on the one hand, and married couples, on the other. I assume that the Deputies' concerns stem from the tax treatment of widows-widowers in the years subsequent to the year of bereavement. The position here is that the doubled rate bands available to married couples were introduced in the light of the Supreme Court Ruling in the Murphy case and, in accordance with that decision, are given in respect of two adults.
The special position of widowed persons is recognised by the provision of a widowed personal allowance, currently standing at £2,600 compared to the single person's allowance of £2,100. There is also a special ceiling on mortgage interest relief currently standing at £2,320 compared to £1,600 for a single person. These provisions allow greater tax relief for widowed persons than is available to a single person. Widowed persons with children, are also entitled to a widowed parent allowance, which brings the total basic allowances of a widowed parent up to the same level as those of a married couple. In recognition of the special difficulties faced by widowed parents in the years following bereavement, a special tax allowance was introduced in 1991 for widowed parents with dependent children, to operate for the first three years following bereavement. The allowance is £1,500 for the first tax year following bereavement, £1,000 for the second and £500 for the third.