Is Brown’s last roll of the dice an income tax cut for everyone?

After the PBR there was a huge sense of relief among Tories that Brown had chosen such politically poor tax cuts. An income tax cut (or an increase in the personal allowance which would have had the same effect) would have caused the Tories far more problems than the two and a half percent cut in VAT. But it seems that Brown might make a better fist of things second time out. John McFall, Chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, has told the Mirror that it is “in the Prime Minister’s mind” to raise the personal allowance from £6,035 to £10,000 in the March budget.

Politically, this would be a potent tax cut. It would reduce everyone’s income tax bill, it would bring some people out of tax altogether and pull others out of the top-rate. Obviously, it would have to be paid for by yet more borrowing—borrowing that would almost certainly lead to higher-tax rates down the line. But Brown will be hoping that the voters concentrate on the jam they’re getting today rather than the gruel they’ll be eating to pay for all this in years to come.