The feelgood factor is gone from Budget day. Most people will feel a little less well off next year as a result of this Budget. The Minister engaged in a widespread application of "stealth taxation" to hold down borrowing and pay for extra spending.
True, the standard calculations of the impact on various taxpayers show that most benefit slightly from a rise in the employee tax credit.
However, this gain will be quickly wiped out. This is because, apart from the tax-credit rise, the Minister took no further measures to adjust the income-tax system for inflation. This means that many people will find some of next year's wage increases partly eaten up by higher taxes. And for all taxpayers the real "burden" of tax will rise, as their spending power does not rise to match inflation.
Politically, Mr McCreevy was always going to avoid the helping of humble pie which would have gone with increasing the headline income-tax rates. However, by avoiding the cost of up to ?500 million he would have incurred by adjusting the system for inflation, he has just as surely added to the tax burden on labour.
The one exception to the "feelbad factor" will be public servants, who are getting a substantial pay rise under bechmarking, with the public pay bill rising by 10 per cent as a result. With further negotiations to come on the rest of the benchmarking award, public pay looks set to remain a major pressure on the exchequer.
The hidden increase in income tax may pass many people by. However, the increase in excise charges, in stamp duty and in the 12.5 per cent VAT rate may yet be more politically sensitive, as they will push up inflation to 4.8 per cent.
The cost of bank cards has rocketed - a small loan may now be needed to pay the stamp duty for those with the full ATM/Laser/Credit Card collection. And the rise in the 12.5 per cent VAT rate will push up the cost of a range of items from electricity to jockey fees.
While the latter may not be welcome in racing circles, the heavily-backed abolition of the tax-free exemption on stallion fees was the budgetary "horse that didn't neigh". The horse industry escaped, as did those with SSIAs, which also went untouched.
The risk from the Budget measures - and from other likely knock-on rises in local authority charges- is that they will add to wage demands and hit competitiveness.
However, Mr McCreevy decided that this was a risk worth taking, as his primary aim was the holding down of exchequer borrowing, which will be just 0.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product next year on the EU borrowing measure.
This is a very modest level of borrowing by EU standards. This was achieved by a modest increase in spending. The biggest Budget day rise was a ?600 million increase in the public sector pay bill, mainly to pay for the first element of benchmarking.
Forecasts produced by the Department of Finance show that modest economic growth will keep the pressure on the exchequer finances over the next three years.
