As budgets go this one was not too bad but then it was not as pleasant as finance minister Chris Liebenberg would have us think.
Most of us will be paying a bit more into the seemingly always empty government coffers.
The main gift was the adjustment to the personal tax tables. Compared to last year, many people, and particularly those at the lower end of the scales, should be paying a little less tax.
The number crunchers will tell us soon the extent of the gift, taking into account the effect of fiscal drag, i.e. inflation pushing people into ever higher marginal tax rates.
The concessions surprised many cynics, including myself, who have heard the empty promises to lower the tax burden on individuals from a long list of previous finance ministers.
Liebenberg has been at pains to say that this was not a standstill budget; not a trade off with labour; and not an opportunist raid on the easiest treasure chest (namely pension funds).
It was a budget based on principles and the need to move towards a new fairer tax regime based primarily on the recommendations of the Katz Committee.
Liebenberg's task was no easy one. In any other country 50 percent unemployment would signal imminent revolution. To correct the position South Africa's high tax regime should be seen as a loaded-premium insurance policy because of the still sickly nature of the insured, namely transitional South Africa.
The important thing about this budget was that the intent shown last year by Liebenberg is now starting to translate into action. The key intentions are reduction of overspending and improved efficiency; reduction of personal income tax, making the tax system fairer; and to attack poverty.
Government is still failing on overspending. It was only the windfall of a much-better-than-government-expected growth in the economy last year that saved Liebenberg from a red face.