The political packaging of the new UK Budget is clear enough. It is about growth, and has a “Plan for Growth” at its heart. It also starts with projections for gross domestic product growth, which are less optimistic than they were, but which still forecast a return to a 2.9 per cent growth rate by the end of this government’s term. Subsidiary to this aim, with which almost nobody could disagree, comes fairness, in the form of frenzied tinkering to make life slightly easier for the poor and slightly tougher for the rich. Note that this tinkering, notably in the complicated and discontinuous new levy for North Sea oil producers, undermines a third key aim, simplicity.
英國新預算案的政治包裝頗爲清晰。重點在於成長，中心內容是一項「成長計劃」。預算案首先對國內生產毛額(GDP)的成長進行了預測，雖然沒有以前那樣樂觀，但仍預測到本屆政府任期滿時能夠恢復到2.9%的經濟成長率。僅次於此的另一個目標是公平，這一點恐怕不會有人反對。通過一通修補，讓窮人過得稍微好一點，富人過得稍微差一點。這種修補中尤爲引人注目的，是對北海石油生產商新開徵的複雜而不連續的稅項。但需要注意的是，它損害了預算案的第三個目標——簡單。