A Budget Brainteaser

What about this for Smoke and Mirrors from our esteemed Chancellor.

Gordon Brown's promise that four in five households would be better off because of his budget was impossible to prove, leading accountants said yesterday. The missing information includes:

* The level of income at which basic-rate tax will become payable from 2008-10

* The level of salary above which NI is payable for that time

* Increases in personal allowances for people under the age of 65 from 2008-10

* When higher-rate tax becomes payable in 2008-09

* Details on who is able to claim working tax credits or child tax credits and how much

* Levels of inflation Treasury has assumed for its figures

* No commitment to provide this information in next week's Finance Bill, which will only cover tax changes in 2007-08

So basically Gordo can say whatever he wants and we can't prove or disprove it. Real Macavity at work.

A Budget Brainteaser