A good Budget by any means Gordon Brown has made the working poor better off. With another Budget gone and an election expected in May, voters are taking stock of what the first Labour government for nearly two decades has done for their finances. Labour was desperate to shed its 'tax and spend' image, and pledged not to raise the basic or top rates of income tax.
Revenues can rise for reasons other than individuals having to pay more.
But there is a consensus among analysts that some of us really are handing over a greater proportion of our incomes than we did. The winners have been poorer families and elderly people. The losers are middle-income earners, particularly the childless, although their pain has probably been masked by a healthy economy and pay rises. The difference between old Labour and new is the way that we are taxed. Parents may even see the full withdrawal of student grants under Labour and the arrival of tuition fees as back-door taxation.