The UK chancellor was handed a pre-election boost after a jump in self-assessed tax receipts triggered the smallest February deficit in seven years, putting him on course to meet his full-year target.
British workers paid £4.2bn in self-assessed income tax last month, £1.8bn more than the same month last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.
It helped to reduce overall government borrowing by £3.5bn to £6.9bn in February, lower than the £8.5bn forecast by economists.
George Osborne made it clear in his final budget before the election that his record on the deficit and credentials as a safe pair of hands to steer the economy forward will be a key battleground in the runup to the polls in May.
With just one month of the current fiscal year to go, the government borrowed a total of £81.8bn, according to the ONS figures. That was £8.8bn lower than the same period a year earlier, and suggested Osborne will meet his full-year target of £90.2bn of borrowing.
Samuel Tombs, senior UK economist at Capital Economics, said full-year borrowing was likely to come in at about £89bn, almost £10bn lower than last year.
He added, however, that further austerity was on the way despite a lower deficit this year.
Tombs said: “While there are differences regarding how long the austerity programmes of the various political parties would last, whichever party leads the next government will want to get as much of the tightening out of the way in the early years of the next parliament.
“Accordingly, the UK continues to face a major intensification of the fiscal squeeze soon after the election.”
Responding to the latest borrowing figures, a spokeswoman for the Treasury said the better-than-expected figures showed the government’s long-term plan was working.
She added: “But we are still borrowing £1 for every £10 we spend and have more to do.”
The public coffers were helped by a 7.2% increased in overall tax receipts in February compared with a year earlier, while overall spending fell 0.7% as low inflation reduced debt interest payments.
