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.
英国新预算案的政治包装颇为清晰。重点在于增长，中心内容是一项“增长计划”。预算案首先对国内生产总值(GDP)的增长进行了预测，虽然没有以前那样乐观，但仍预测到本届政府任期满时能够恢复到2.9%的manbetx20客户端下载 增长率。仅次于此的另一个目标是公平，这一点恐怕不会有人反对。通过一通修补，让穷人过得稍微好一点，富人过得稍微差一点。这种修补中尤为引人注目的，是对北海石油生产商新开征的复杂而不连续的税项。但需要注意的是，它损害了预算案的第三个目标——简单。