It is that taxpayers will feel that they get value from government spending as a whole.Most European governments are cutting taxes at the moment We are increasing them It is a big bet The Chancellor will need his run of luck to continue
More from Hamish McRae. I know it’s weird, but I always find the Budget to be a terribly emotional experience. Since he has been Chancellor, Gordon Brown has produced budgets that have made me feel elated, and budgets that have inspired my absolute fury This one, though, made me feel oddly desolate. At times, in fact, it brought me close to tears.It wasn’t the facts or figures that really struck me. After all, there was not very much in this budget that had not been flagged in advance It was the faces.

How tired, unwell, old and worried the Labour front bench is looking Five years in government has taken its toll.And no wonder. What a thankless task governing this country must sometimes seem. One of those times, for this government, must surely be this morning.For Gordon Brown himself, even though he still had much he felt he could boast about with regard the the economy generally, this budget seemed like an admission of failure. In the past, Mr Brown has shown every sign of believing he could govern from the Treasury, performing great feats of social engineering with a nip here, a tuck there, a seam let out, a hem let down. This tax credit will lift millions of children out of poverty and into a glittering future, that concession will keep pensioners warm, happy and sleepy, in front of the television.In the past Mr Brown’s tinkerings with the tax and benefits system have been elaborate and fiddly, but promising sweeping change and wonderful transformations nonetheless.This time though, it is as if Mr Brown has lost faith in himself, stared at the complicated and fragile house of cards on his desk, and swept it away in frustration.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in those aspects of the budget that are concerned with increasing “family prosperity for all”.At a stroke, many of Mr Brown’s previous initiatives have been binned. The working families tax credit has gone, after a brief – and in terms of not-very-effective advertising and promotion alone – expensive existence. The childcare tax credit – claimed by just 150,000 families – has gone too, along with the children’s tax credit, which was only introduced last year. A simpler system is certainly welcome, because it will reach many more of the people it is supposed to.The overhauled system will be helping those who have, in the past, been fiscally discouraged too, such as primary carers who would prefer to give up working to care for their children. It will also help those whose childcare needs are specialised and who need childcare at home Of course it is right to target such people for help. But one gets the feeling that, for political reasons, it will be reaching many people that Mr Brown would prefer not to help as well.Back in the early days of new Labour budgets, Mr Brown spoke passionately of “lifting children out of poverty”. Though from the start it has been by no means clear that Mr Brown’s strategy would work, through several budgets the phrase has been repeated This time, I didn’t hear it.

Perhaps this is because so recently the Government has been accused of wildly over-estimating the success of its assault on child poverty. Perhaps it is because Mr Brown has realised that the public does not have as big an enthusiasm for this crusade as it should.Anyway, the phrase has drifted off, even though no less than £2.5bn has been set aside to, by helping families, help children. All Mr Brown promised this time was that half of Britain’s families would find themselves better off. Like the pessimist’s glass of water, this promise is half-empty.Much of this money, it seems obvious, is being used to assuage people on middle incomes who will resent the one per cent rise in national insurance contributions. Why else would Mr Brown have decided to spread the bounty in order to help families with incomes of up to £58,000 and even more in the first year of parenthood?Doesn’t it beggar belief that, in a country as wealthy as this one, an income that is a good £10,000 more than double the average salary is not deemed quite enough to raise a child on? The absurdity of the idea becomes even more apparent when Mr Brown’s pledges regarding the minimum wages that families will be guaranteed. Working families with children will be certain of receiving £237 a week – or £12,324 a year.