Budget – beneath the surface

The timing of the Budget is not kind to Taxation’s print schedules: you would think that the chancellor would have realised that by now and changed his plans. We had already committed last week’s edition by the time that he stood up to speak. But it does give us the advantage of a bit of reflection time.

In all of the years that I have been covering them I’ve learned that while immediate reactions have their place the real implications of a Budget often take a day or two to sink in. The headlines don’t always tell the full story.

Delivering a boring message

The chancellor made it clear before the event that he wanted a boring Budget. Most commentators agree that the way that he delivered his speech went a long way to achieving that aim regardless of its content.

The same description certainly...