How stupid do you think we are?

The new Budget makes interesting reading.

Gordon Brown is obviously trying to make everybody love him by announcing, coincidentally just before he takes over as Prime Minister, that he is going to cut the basic rate of income tax by 2p. This is something that hasn't been done for a long time.

Obviously at first glance, this seems like a good thing. We all imagine that we'll have loads of extra money.

But then you look under the surface, and see that he is abolishing the 10% rate that exists just above the "free" rate. So the net result is? Bugger all difference. Big headline, sounds good, but makes us no better off at all. Then factor in the increase in Road Tax, cigarettes, alcohol and everything else and, yup, I'm actually worse off than last year. Again. Worse than this is that when the income tax rate goes up again, let's say up to 21% in a couple of years time, that 10% rate still won't be there, so we'll be far worse off than we were before all this. Joy.

The weird thing is that half of the changes don't actually come into affect now. The 2p cut isn't for another year. The 15% increase in Child Benefit is not until 2010. And that's basically just the rate of inflation anyway - so it makes no difference in real terms! Stupid, stupid, stupid... it's just done on a spreadsheet with the totals all kept the same, but moving the amounts around the columns, I reckon.

Hopefully most people will see through the spin and kick out this idiot at the first available election.