History of the Budget and origin of the 5 April tax year end

The term ‘Budget’ derives from the French word bougette meaning ‘little bag’ in which the chancellor of the exchequer keeps his papers. A history of the red despatch box first used by William Gladstone in 1860 has been covered almost annually by the media and so instead I shall review selected key words phrases and dates integral to the history of the Budget.

Before the Budget was in fact referred to as the Budget the annual statement made by the chancellor was simply known as opening the ways and means for the year. Ways and means being a traditional term for the implementation of taxation and other charges levied on the public to raise revenue and fund government expenditure.

Outside official parliamentary usage the term Budget and the phrase ‘opening the Budget’ first arose in a satirical pamphlet published in 1733 when Robert...