After weeks of wondering will she, won't she, and recent heavy hints that she would indeed raise income taxes in the Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has now decided against the manifesto-breaching move.
Amid the fog of Budget speculation, here is what we do know.
That plan, to raise income tax rates by 2p but compensate workers with a 2p National Insurance cut was sent to the OBR as an option earlier this month to be costed, to help fill what was then a £30bn gap in the public finances, mainly caused by a downgrade to productivity.
The so-called "2 up, 2 down" plan, pioneered by the Resolution Foundation think tank, would have raised several billion pounds, mainly from non-wage income such as landlords and savings.
Newer assessments from the OBR appear to have increased the projected strength of wages and tax receipts in the coming years and offset several billion pounds of that gap, taking it closer to £20bn in total.
