If I had a $1,000,000...

... I'd buy you an exotic pet, like a llama, or an emu... or if I was Gordon Brown, I'd play with tax rates again.

In fairness to the man though, he has made a gesture towards long overdue simplification of the tax system and doubtless shot a lot of Conservative and Liberal Democrat foxes in the process (I'm not sure what the Lib Dem Tax Commission will have to say in private but might be able to essay a guess...).

Interestingly though, the headline impact of the income tax changes will be to see an increase in the tax liability of anyone earning between £5,225 and £18,605, although I'm assuming that there will be counterbalancing tax credits and the like to fill the gap. The changes in the ceilings for National Insurance Contributions would potentially allow a marriage with income tax at some point in the future and remove the bizarre anomaly where your marginal tax rate dropped at the point where National Insurance Contributions ceased to be charged - a nod towards properly progressive taxation, perhaps?

A lot of HM Revenue & Customs staff will be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of applying the new legislation of Managed Service Companies (in fact, we may need additional budget authority for glee, so enthusiastic are some...) and changes to the corporation tax rates offer a glimmer of a future with just one rate of corporation tax (any offers at 25%, anybody?), which would in turn remove most issues related to associated companies, marginal rate relief and other ornate, yet incomprehensible to the layperson, complications.

I'll want to see all of the numbers to be able to reach a conclusion as to how good a budget this is, but given the laziness of the average financial journalist when it comes to this sort of stuff (not good enough to be an accountant, not efficient enough to run a business and too ethically challenged to work in government...), they'll probably buy the 20% headline rate of income tax and declare it to be a success.