It surely can't be 10 years since Gordon 'Uncle Joe' Brown delivered his first Budget can it? Well as they say - a week is long time in politics. But the last 10 years have been inexorably long for many. True, the economy has witnessed uninterrupted growth. But growth has come against a backdrop of higher taxes. Indeed, by indexing income tax thresholds to inflation Gordon has managed to bring 3.25 million into the 40% tax band, compared to the 2 million already there in 1997.
At the other end of the scale try telling first time homebuyers they're better off, given the housing market boom of the last 10 years. Affordability has become a very real issue, especially in London and the South East where Gordon has done little to alleviate the plight of FTBs having to cope with exorbitant property prices.
There have also been missed opportunities on the public spending front - not least the NHS. And then there is growing realisation that the next lot - assuming Gordon becomes Prime Minister and is subsequently booted out by the electorate - may not be much better either. It's all so desperately depressing.
Back to the here and now. Well actually, no, because many of the headline grabbing initiatives announced by Gordon in this year's Budget are for the future. Jam tomorrow sounds perfectly nice. But there's plenty of time for it to go mouldy. The most obvious example of jam tomorrow is the decision to cut the basic rate of income tax from 22% to 20% - effective April 2008. Meanwhile, the 10% starting rate is to be abolished. The top-rate income tax threshold will rise to £43,000 from April 2009.
Elsewhere, headline Corporation Tax is to be reduced from 30% to 28% - again from April 2008. The more cynical among us could be forgiven for concluding that this is no accident, given that Gordon will likely be gearing up for his election campaign by then. That's the one where the electorate will actually be given the chance to determine whether they want him as Prime Minister.
One thing is for sure, the future is far more pleasant than the present where cigarette smokers will now be paying an additional 11p on a packet of fags. And beer/cider and sparkling wine drinkers don't escape either with rises of 1p, 5p (a bottle) and 7p (a bottle) respectively. For the 10th successive year duty on spirits - including Scotch - will be frozen. I wonder why.
Fuel duty meanwhile is going up by 2p per litre, in line with inflation. And road tax on the highest-polluting vehicles is up to £300 (£400 from April next year). The least polluting vehicles will have their duty cut to £35 however.
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