I was fascinated to read some post-Budget commentary from the Daily Mail this morning. This is, of course, the favourite paper of 'middle England'. Alex Brummer said in an article for them:

We may be a long way from 'flat taxes' (where there is just one rate of tax for both individuals and corporations) [seen] in the newly emerging markets of Eastern Europe, nevertheless the system should be easier to understand.

Ignore the appalling quality of the writing and editing (the sentence is as written except I added [seen] to try to give some sense to it) and just consider the simple fact that the claim made is wrong. As my research has shown, only Slovakia and Roumania have the same personal and corporation tax rates in Eastern Europe. The rest have different rates, and several have multiple rates.

Then note this:

By using tax reductions to drive the economy, rather than public spending, Brown is recognising the importance of the wealth-creating sector of the economy. Something he has been loathe to do in the past when he has relied on public spending to boost output.

Brummer is clearly seeing something in the budget the rest of the world has not found. As one journalist put it to me recently (in jest, in his case):

You should never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

I don't agree. I'll leave you to decide on Brummer.