The Civil and Public Services Union said that the tax measures in the Budget represented the first attempt in recent years to target tax relief at lower-paid workers and those on average earnings.
The CPSU said that a single clerical servant on £191 a week would be £6.80 a week better off, compared to 86p better off after last year's Budget. A single clerical civil servant on the average industrial wage of £268 a week or married with a working partner would be £6.20 a week better off as a result of the Budget.
The CPSU deputy general secretary, Mr Blair Horan, said however that "it would take a number of budgets of this type to redress the inequalities in tax terms between low-to-average earners and the higher paid."
"The commitment to Partnership 2000 to examine the introduction of tax credits and standard rating of personal allowances will be an important step to further improve the position of low-to-average earners in 1998," he added.