As Budget 2007 date announced, Brown nets highest income tax haul on record

Gordon Brown's next (and perhaps final) Budget will be let loose on the country on March 21st, the Treasury announced yesterday.

In his 11th consecutive Budget, given the speculation surrounding the Chancellor's bid to take over the premiership, we may well see some policies which may indicate Gordon Brown's future direction.

Despite claims from the Government that the economy has performed very well since 1997, The Economist and other respected publications suggest that the Chancellor could have done a lot more during his time in power.

Here are some extracts from the Economist's special report on Britain, published earlier this month:

"Out of 22 developed economies, 15 reduced their debt and 17 improved their underlying budget balances by more than Britain did between 1996 and 2006."

"The chancellor is being helped by sharply rising corporation-tax receipts and higher income-tax revenues thanks to “fiscal drag” as earnings rise faster than tax thresholds tied to prices."

"The chancellor's undesirable legacy will be a bigger state that is palpably failing to deliver value for money for its hard-pressed taxpayers."

Late last year, George Osborne (Shadow Chancellor) claimed that Brown had presided over the biggest peacetime tax increase in British history (having spent £4 trillion since 1997).

Astonishingly, last month, the Treasury took in the largest amount of income tax since records began. A total income tax bonanza of £22.5bn was collected in January - the highest monthly figure since the mid-60's.

We will report the main points of the Chancellor's speech on March 21st, together with the revised tax rates and allowances for 2007/8.

If you would like to air your views on the Chancellor's record in power, please email us.

James Leckie, Bytestart Editor