However as so often happens, the devil is in the detail and once the dust settled, it became clear that there was minimal good news for individuals and that millions of households will be worse off.
Biggest losers
The main victims are those earning over £100,000. Their personal allowances will be restricted and those with an income of £150,000 a year or more will be hit by a new 50% tax rate which will be introduced next April.
The big sting in the detail for these high earners is that the Government is proposing reducing the tax relief on pensions down to 20% - this means the tax benefit of investing in a pension will be wiped out and they'll actually pay more tax than if they invested outside a pension wrapper. However, the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, said he will consult on these plans and the opposition to them is likely to be so great, that some analysts doubt this reduction in pension tax-relief will ever see the light of day.
But it's not only the wealthy who are hit
With the nation's finances in a mess of historic proportions, squeezing the rich isn't enough to plug the funding gaps. As a result, Darling couldn't resist raising what money he could from those traditional providers, the "sin taxes": tobacco, alcohol, bingo and fuel duty. While this will hit the majority of people, worst affected will be those on lower incomes, because proportionally the higher costs will eat into more of their income.
And the good news... ?
Pensioners: Thousands of pensioners will be better off from the autumn when the savings limit for pensions credits will rise from £6,000 to £10,000. The Government claims this will benefit more than half a million pensioners to the tune of around £4 per week.
The higher winter fuel allowance, which was announced last year, to help offset rising energy bills, is to be maintained for another year. This means the over-60s will receive £250 and the over-80s £400 to help towards their fuel bills.
Children: Parents with disabled children will also receive extra help. The Government will contribute an additional £100 a year to the Child Trust Funds of disabled children, while the severely disabled will receive £250 a year.
Motorists: As was widely expected a new car scrappage scheme was announced. It is designed to boost the ailing motor industry by encouraging people to get rid of old vehicles and buy a new car. From next month, anyone with a car that is at least 10-years old, that they have been in possession of for 12 months, will receive a £2,000 discount if they trade it in and buy a new car. The scheme will run until March next year. Dealerships will arrange the rebate so anyone interested in taking advantage of this scheme should contact the local dealer of whichever car they would like to buy.
What about the 'not so' good news?
However, some of the 'positive' announcements have not been welcomed as widely as the Government would have hoped.
Families: From next April, the child element of the Child Tax Credit will go up. However, the increase will be just £20 per year, per child - less than 40p per week - so in reality this will not be of much help. As one of the people who sent in a question for the webchat I did with Yvette Cooper, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: "how does 38.46p per week help children out of poverty?".
Savers: While savers will benefit from a £3,000 increase in the annual ISA allowance, this will not take effect immediately. The annual allowance will rise from £7,200 to £10,200 (up to half of that can be invested in a Cash ISA, so that limit will go up from £3,600 to £5,100). The over-50s will benefit from the higher allowance this year, but it won't take effect until October 6. Savers under the age of 50 will have to wait until April 6 next year before they see their ISA limit go up.
This delay has been heavily criticised by savers who have been hard-hit by the recent interest rate cuts and were hoping that the Chancellor would do more to ease their plight.
Another person who submitted a question for the Yvette Cooper interview said: "Savers have been severely penalised with the recent drops in interest rates. Now there is effectively no compensation for that (unless you're over 50) for another year. Not much help to us really."
The failure of the Government to do more for savers could come back to bite it. As another said: "Remember that come the next election, savers become voters, and there are an awful lot of us."
Round up...
With the economy in the state it is, individuals could have been hit a lot harder by this Budget. However, that doesn't mean we've escaped - there may be worse news to come in the future.
The Chancellor's figures are based on the economy shrinking by 3.5% this year. However, he is forecasting growth of 1.25% next year and 3.5% in 2011. Many economists think these figures are widely optimistic. If they're right, brace yourself for a succession of nasty Budgets from 2011 until possibly as late as 2020.
Overall verdict
A 'hit-and-hope' Budget from a boxed-in Chancellor. With little room to manoeuvre, he hit the rich and hopes the economic clouds will give way to sunshine faster than virtually anyone else expects.
And don't forget, I'll be hosting a live webchat at 1pm on Wednesday with Mike Warburton, a senior tax partner from accountancy firm Grant Thornton, Amanda Davidson, an independent financial advisor from Baigrie Davies, and Kevin Mountford, moneysupermarket's head of banking. So if you've got a question about the Budget and its effect on you, submit it now.
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