Good - it's about time Labour redistributed the cash. The wealth gap has been growing bigger and bigger over the past decade, the upper middle classes have never had it so good.

Although to be honest I'd prefer it if they went after the super rich.

Owen, London, UK

The labour tendency to load more taxes onto people earning 40K+ infuriates me. i earn 45K but I earn that by doing 12-14 hr days as a normal day, I study in the evenings and wends. There is a reason people who works 3-7 hours a day or less are lower income - they don't work as hard!

lainey, London,

This problem lies firmly at Gordon Brown's door. He did not see what was happening in 2006 and 2007 in the global market, he was too busy trying to oust the PM of the day. He can only deal with one thing at a time and thinks that's the economy, what else is he taking his eye off?

Susan James, Oxford, Uk

This is called income compression, the equalising of incomes between the rich and the poor. It worked very well in the US in the 50's, so may work in the UK now. Being a HR tax payer is not going to be much fun in the coming years, but the inequality of incomes needs to be re-balanced.

ipd, Tokyo, Japan

That's why ppl are leaving London. I worked in Tokyo last year and taxes are about 30%, but everything works - safe/clean, I was so sad to leave London, but after I moved to Tokyo, you realise that we get such a raw deal!! I'm working in Hong Kong now and the tax rate is 16%.

Sabrina, Hong Kong,

We pay so much tax and get so little - look at the NHS, state schools, linfrastructure, high cost transport, zealous bureaucracy & officialdom, health & safety.. bankrupt and saddled with massive debt. More tax = more waste = less productivity = less efficiency. Now we have a deadline to move away!

Sam Jones, London, UK

This story implies that the majority are being affected, This is not rue as only 10% earn more than £40,000. I am one of them and I am prepared to do my bit in difficult times. Many of thye posters here are simply greedy. We have had it good for long enough now we must provide the help to the nation

Craig, Glenorthes,

Change to Tax, Ni and VAT only mean anything if you work. Unemployment is the biggest issue facing a lot of us. The public sector is sheding jobs daily and wont be employing anyone. If the government agencies dont then who else will. Without a job these financial changes are worthless.

Jackie, Dagenham,

Change to Tax, Ni and VAT only mean anything if you work. Unemployment is the biggest issue facing a lot of us. The public sector is sheding jobs daily and wont be employing anyone. If the government agencies dont then who else will. Without a job these financial changes are worthless.

Jackie, Dagenham,

Good news, we're gonna tax the rich people to pay for the government spending........................hope some of them stay around to fulfill the obligation, and of course we can keep our jobs they create!

Paul, Milton Keynes, UK

Simple fact is once I hit £100k in fees I will stop taking on extra consultancy work. I've no intention of working when the majority (50% plus) of my earning goes straight to Brown

This will mean, lower tax take for Labour & a fall in economic activity from me

Time to work abroad I think

Guy, London, UK

The median income in the UK is about 25,000 pounds so 40,000 isn't really 'middle income'. If you are on 40,000 a year an extra 156 pounds isn't really going to be noticeable. If you earn in that range stop whining, there are a lot of people doing it tougher than you.

Glen, Melbourne ,

Taxing the £150,000+ crowd 5% more can destroy value in the economy. The £3,172 that the £140-200k earner loses likely would have been spent here, creating jobs and earning VAT on its transactions. This is a populist, election year budget not an economic one. £3,172 is not 'peanuts'.

C Bozner, London,

A few weeks ago I overheard a person in my gym saying that she has been unemployed on benefits for 9 months and had no intention of going back to work!
I have a university degree, a professional qualification and work hard. Why am I being taxed more to fund the lifestyle of people that are lazy?

Sam, Harrow, UK

"Labour has always been deeply jealous of the ~ £40K income group..."

Very true, CA. But inexplicable when you think how many Labour apparatchiks earn more than £100K themselves. I think you need to watch Rory Bremner (specifically the dinner party sketches) to understand how their minds work.

Tom Welsh, Basingstoke,

Why aren't Minsiters giving up their Final Salary pension schemes then aswell to relieve the burden of debt? Surely if I have to reduce my contributions to this now in order to pay more NI then they should make sacrifices too. Or would that be seen as unfair on them. Bring on an election

Paul, London, London

Ali, the immigrants have also helped to keep the cost of everything you buy low as well so in real terms chances are that until inflation started going up you were no worse off.

What really gets me is £60 for pensioners-is that all of them? Even the ones with a fair bit of money? Why?!

Richard Pickup, Wakefield, UK

The usual smoke and mirrors from the government - Gordon, people are not fools you know

malcolm, ely,

This is as fair as it can get. I have no qualms in paying my share of increased taxes with the hope that we all in the UK can get out of this economic turmoils in 1 piece. The government does their bit; we, the citizens, do our bit and when the UK is back to its former glory, we'll all be better off

Alan W, London,

I'm just glad I've got until 2011 to sort myself out a move to a fairer tax environment. Somewhere where the government doesn't tax you just for breathing. Somewhere where you get to keep a decent proportion of your hard earned income. Any cuts in final salary pensions for govt employees? No?

Delaney, London,

er... did robin hood steal from the tory voters and give to the labour voters then?

jem, london, uk

Why shouldn't a few wealthy people be taxed a bit more in an attempt to ease the global recession? I'd rather pay my extra £156 than risk the consequences of doing nothing.

James, Manchester, UK

The filthy rich have been living a life of excess and gluttony under Labour unchecked by fair taxes. So typical of Labour that now they need to raise more cash to compensate they are placing most of the burden on the middle income mules, allowing Peter Mandelson and the jet set to carry on partying.

Simon , London, UK

Labour has always been deeply jealous of the ~ £40K income group of the population. They want to reduce them to dust - but then Labour will get no revenue because we'll all be on "benefits".

CA, Manchester, UK

The U.K. is now heading for a Depression.
To raise NI and further tax the employed when unemployment
is shooting up is sheer madness.

PETER OAKLEY, duncan B.C. , Canada

This PBR is to help reduce the gap between the rich and poor. My pay has remained static in the past 3 years because of cheap immigrants, this budget will definitely help me. The rich in the past 5 years have become embarrassingly profligate, frankly £3,172/yr is peanuts for high income earners.

Ali, London,

Not much of an incentive to stay in Britain. Time to move to where taxes are lower and personal responsibility is not taxed. How many businesses will shut down or move away during the next year or so?

Dave, Phoenix, AZ, USA

No government in the world has a right to tax human subsistence, hence the personal allowance. Bad enough that the UK abolished personal allowances for children and spouses/partners. No allowance at all for single-income families is a crime.

K Becher, London,

What the middle and high earners have seen is the tip of the ice berg. Only after the election, will they and the rest see the rest of the iceberg. By then it will be too late.

The Gamble is too reckless to succeed and in the end the fault is ours to have placed our trust on this Government.

S Yogarajah, Harrow, UK

The country is in trouble now, and these measures are designed as a stopgap, a short term aid to the people. Why headline the negative effects that are to come into effect 2-3 years from now?

Stuart Dickson, Palma, Mallorca, Spain

Why complain,, We live in a I want it now society

VAT is is not something that is going to be claimed by Brussels,, we set our rate it is our rate alone,, ours is low by ECC standards,, now it is lower

Over half of the 12 Billion has already been accounted for from taxes on richer people

Nicholas Iles, Oswestry, Shropshire, United Kingdom