KEY POINTS:
Is it enough? Michael Cullen has given it his best shot. He has been about as generous as he could be.
He and his Labour colleagues will not die wondering what might have been had the Finance minister's tax cuts been bolder. He could not have been bolder without seriously risking pushing the Government accounts into the red.
His tax cuts - as he said - are at the limits of his comfort zone.
If the Treasury has got it wrong and the economy slides into recession, then Cullen's reputation as Mr Fiscal Responsibility, built up over his previous eight Budgets, will come crashing down as a result of his ninth, and probably final one.
Whether that turns out to be the case won't be apparent until after the election. What matters for Labour is what happens before.
The clever feature of the tax cuts is that they deliver where it counts politically.
Single people on modest incomes will hardly be dancing in gratitude at the prospect of an extra $12 to $16 a week from October.
For families, however, it is a different story. Labour has again targeted more assistance to them - very deliberately.
So a two-child household earning $65,000 will get an extra $43 a week.
This is the territory where the election will be fought.
Cullen has laid down a challenge to National to do better without being profligate.
If the Budget does not give voters in the crucial $50,000 to $80,000 household income band who are leaning National's way pause for thought, then nothing will.
