Today the Chancellor was forced to doing something about the increases in cost of living. Hence, the fuel duty cuts, employee and self employed threshold national insurance increases but not too much else.

If people are still not feeling spring-like, the promise of a 1% cut in the income tax rate from April 2024.

Dig in a bit further and you decide:

It was going to be Boris' first Budget today with, we hoped, a few sweeteners or at least the promise of a few. As we'll only know on Friday 13th December what party or coalition will deliver the next Budget, what can you still rely on when trying to be tax efficient? As I see it, these are the enduring themes:

• Innovation is a good thing  
• Green incentives will continue
• Pension saving will still be encouraged (until your pension is 'big').
• Timing is (nearly) everything

How do these themes translate into the tax system for you?