Still a little peeved about the zider tax increase! 10% is a lot! 5% would have seemed reasonable. Oh well. At the end of the day it's not going to affect me too much.

Alcohol was bound to get hit.

Its been strange for me as its the first budget I haven't been working in HMT for several years.

OI!!!!!!

I WANT TO CARRY ON HAVING CHEAP CIDER DAMMIT!!!

Apparently I will be £73.55 worse off. That's the equivalent of a loaf of bread, a litre of milk and a tin of sausage and beans every week. In other words, there goes my week's dinner allowance.

Calculator: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8582847.stm

Interestingly, I'm up about £72.99, mostly on tax credit, which I didn't think I was elegible for. Might have to look into it. I don't smoke or drive and very rarely drink, so it's not made much of a difference to me.

Freezing the lower tax bracket however will make a difference over the next couple of years if the Tories don't change that.

I'll be £25 worse off.

I'd be 19.64 better off...

Income tax should be the same for everyone - that's the proper definition of "fair". If you work hard, you should be able to enjoy the fruits of your labour. Why should someone be taxed for being successful? Besides, if you have more disposable income you have more to spend, and that means that companies make more and that means more jobs.

The whole economy is driven by the use of wealth, not the generation of wealth. If I earn a lot but don't spend any of it, what good does that do?

£45 worse off

You have missed the point. If you spend a percentage on food then when you double your income you will not spend double on food. If you have twenty times the income you will not spend twenty times the amount on food. This applies to everything else you spend your money on. You might spend more on everything but not to the same ratio as someone on average pay. You end up with lots of spare money which is saved. This is a drag on the economy. This saved money will end up being used to buy up property so that others cannot afford to buy a home, and have to rent. Flat tax rates are a scam on the poor by the rich and if you think that you will actually be better off you are a fool. The same principle has already shown that the tax cuts do not stimulate the economy. The few who benefit have their tax reduced but they do not spend it, They invest it and create asset bubbles, be it shares or property.

I like the ISA and stamp duty points, and I don't think there's anything else that affects me directly...

I thought of you when the ISA limits were announced. Actually this is a good move. As a nation we need to save a lot more.

True, and it'll be very useful in the future maybe, but I suspect they announced this move knowing full well most people can't/won't save

Nice - you've shot down you're own argument - taxing those who earn a lot impacts so few that it hardly makes a difference.

But, consider how much money these people could invest if there was an incentive to do so. Consider how many people might leave the country because of it (people who are obviously good at what they do).

For example, say you earn £1,000,000 a year. Currently, you lose nearly £404,000 in tax. Drop the tax to 25% and that halves, so you have an extra £200,000 a year. Now some may squirrel it away in assets, but there are some that may decide to invest it in a new business. This in turn creates employment and wealth.

The main reason that the tax system in this country is the way it is is because it has to support too many things - the NHS, police, schools, unemployed etc. Reduce unemployment and you reduce the tax burden. Give people more disposable income and they can buy better food, which reduces pressure on the NHS.

The CEBR stated "Our provisional calculations suggest that if these were implemented, over three years there would be a loss in UK jobs building up to 140,000, a loss in GDP in the City of London of 3%, and a loss in tax revenues for the government of £800m a year. About 25,000 high-end taxpayers would be likely to shift tax regimes, with the low-tax cantons in Switzerland the likely largest gainers."

David Frost, chairman of the British Chambers of Commerce said "The higher level tax rate at 50% raises very little income but it does not send out the right message around the globe about the UK as a place to do business. The higher rate pension measure also sends out completely the wrong message on entrepreneurialism."

So it seems I'm not alone.