Rachel Reeves has delivered her Budget and called it a serious plan to restore stability and fix the public finances. But once the measures are unpacked, it becomes clear that this Budget asks far more of ordinary people than it asks of the very wealthy, despite the enormous economic shift that has taken place in Britain over the past five years.

To understand this moment, you have to return to the pandemic. The government injected more than £700 billion into the economy to keep it from collapsing. Shared equally, that would have amounted to around £20,000 for every adult in the United Kingdom. But the money did not spread equally. Most of it inflated the prices of assets like property, shares and business valuations. Because the richest already own most of these assets, they captured the lion’s share of the gains.

British billionaires accumulated billions in additional wealth during the pandemic. Some doubled their fortunes. Meanwhile, millions of households lost savings, fell behind on bills and watched their living standards drop sharply. This split between the richest and everyone else defines the economic Britain that Reeves is now trying to manage.

The scale of Reeves’s tax rises

Reeves confirmed that the government will raise about £15 billion through personal taxes. The freeze on income tax thresholds continues, meaning millions of workers will quietly drift into higher tax brackets as their wages rise. She also introduced a new charge on salary sacrificed pension contributions that is expected to raise £4.7 billion.

Another £11 billion will come from additional tax measures. This includes higher gambling taxes, changes to electric vehicle taxation, new corporation tax rules and a significant new surcharge on high value homes.

A new mansion tax on homes worth more than £2 million

The Office for Budget Responsibility set out how this will work. From April 2028, anyone owning a property valued at more than £2 million in 2026 prices will pay an extra annual charge on top of their council tax bill. A property valued between £2 million and £2.5 million will face a yearly charge of £2,500. A property worth £5 million or more will pay £7,500. These amounts will rise with CPI inflation. The OBR estimates this will raise around £0.4 billion in the 2029 to 2030 financial year and the money will go directly to the Treasury. In simple terms, it is a mansion tax.

Huge tax rises on online casinos and betting apps

Reeves confirmed major increases to gambling taxation. Remote Gaming Duty on online casinos and online slot machines will rise from 21 percent to 40 percent. Online betting duty will rise from 15 percent to 25 percent. These are some of the steepest rises in the entire Budget.

Horse racing is exempt. So is in person betting in betting shops. Bingo duty is being scrapped entirely.

A new 20 percent VAT charge on private hire rides like Uber and Bolt

One of the most controversial decisions in the Budget is the introduction of 20 percent VAT on all private hire journeys from January. This covers services like Uber, Bolt and other ride hailing apps. Firms have warned that this new charge, which they call a taxi tax, will push fares up by around 15 percent. For millions of people who rely on these services late at night or in areas with poor public transport, this will be a noticeable cost increase.

Changes to household finances

Reeves confirmed that the tax free Cash ISA limit will fall from £20,000 to £12,000 from April 2027 and this will apply only to people under 65. She claims the policy will encourage people to invest in stocks and shares instead of leaving money in cash. Critics argue that this punishes ordinary savers at a time when inflation has already reduced their financial security.

The government is also removing green levies from energy bills. These levies currently fund home insulation and clean energy projects. Reeves says removing them will cut an average household bill by around £150 from next April. This provides short term relief but weakens long term investment in energy efficiency and climate programmes.

The OBR delivered a stark warning about future living standards. It expects household disposable income to grow by only 0.25 percent a year for most of the decade. This means that even with inflation cooling, most households will feel almost no real improvement in their financial position for many years.

The one major social policy

Reeves confirmed that the two child benefit cap will be abolished in the 2026 to 2027 financial year. The change will cost about £5.3 billion and will lift many families out of deep poverty. It is one of the few measures in the Budget that directly improves life for the poorest households.

The decision Reeves refused to take

The most significant omission from the Budget is a wealth tax. Reeves could have chosen to tax the enormous rise in wealth experienced by the richest households during the pandemic. The £700 billion that entered the financial system overwhelmingly benefitted asset owners. Yet Reeves decided not to introduce a tax that would have targeted those gains.

This means that billionaires who accumulated billions of extra wealth will not pay more. Those holding large investment portfolios or high value property portfolios remain largely untouched. The weight falls instead on workers, savers, commuters and households whose living standards have already fallen.

What this Budget really represents

This Budget attempts to repair the public finances without rebalancing the enormous shift in wealth that has taken place in Britain. The gains made by the richest remain intact. The burden falls heavily on the majority.

Reeves calls this economic stability. Many will see it as a missed opportunity to correct the imbalance created during the pandemic. Britain leaves this Budget looking very similar to how it entered it. The top stays protected. The middle feels squeezed. And the country is asked to accept slow growth in living standards for most of the decade.