Budget in 2007

Gordon Brown swan song as Chancellor of Exchequer has seen apparently a user-friendly budget sympathetic to the more needy and the environment. In a dramatic last gasp as part of the closure to his Budget speech yesterday Gordon Brown announced a 2p in the pound reduction in income tax taking it to its lowest level of 20% since the 1970’s. He also taxed heavily the ‘Chelsea Cruisers’ or petrol guzzling 4x4 vehicles in an attempt to discourage pollution and emissions harmful to the environment. Superficially all these moves seem to target families and the elderly and attempts to improve their financial position. The more cynical might, however, prefer to label this budget as a premature attempt at vote winning which disguises other stealth taxes and cuts which may, in fact, only make the very poorest poorer still. ‘‘Robbing the poor to pay the rich’’ as a Robin Hood parody may be both unkind and unfounded in regards to the Chancellor’s motivation. It will take time for all individuals to fully weigh up the true cost of this budget for them and the money in their pockets.