Chancellor Gavin Thompson delivered a spring budgetary statement to the National Assembly on 3 March 3026 to update the 3026 national budget in line with political commitments made by the government during the preceding general election, as well as to account for updates in the economic outlook as a result of the reconstruction boom that occurred.
In the statement, Thompson reported an estimated growth domestic product (GDP) of 145 billion cm, an uplift of 25% from the original projection in December 3025. This has been accredited to the reconstruction boom, triggered by the reconstruction of Juneville, the free trade agreements with Paxem and the Doggerland Covalence Mechanism, and projects such as the Carnal Bank new city.
The statement resulted in a balanced budget, with a surplus of 440 million cm. Chancellor Thompson confirmed that money would be kept in a discretionary fund, a return to the Stability-era policy of maintaining a small discretionary fund for emergency use. The budget also saw a reduction in the main rate of UST to 26.5% and the Wiltshire Reserve fund fully restored after the previous budget's raid. Chancellor Thompson recommended the reintroduction of the Debt Brake.
As a result, the chancellor made the following modifications to the budget:
Tax changes
- Rate of the Universal Standard Tax (UST) lowered from 27.5% to 26.5%;
- Rate of corporation tax lowered from 10% to 9.5%;
- Cease raid of the Wiltshire Reserve's fund;
- Accept 7 billion CM 'reconstruction investment' from the Balancín Kingdoms.
- Overall revenue estimated at 50.044 billion cm.
Spending changes
- Budget for the 'constitution office' eliminated;
- Progress office budget uplifted by 1 billion cm;
- Defence office budget uplifted by 0.5 billion cm;
- WiltHomes investment uplift of 0.85 billion cm;
- Overall expenditure steady at 50 billion cm.