Finance Minister Sammy Wilson has said it was "disappointing" to see the increase in national insurance contributions from 2011-12.
Mr Wilson branded the Chancellor's pre-budget report a "politician's budget", which brought little change for Northern Ireland.
It had been feared that up to £100m could be lost from the region's bloc grant.
Instead Chancellor Alistair Darling announced an £8m spending boost for the Stormont Executive.
"The huge cut in the bloc grant that we were anticipating for 2010-2011 has not materialised with an additional £7.7m available to the Executive for 2010-11 as a consequence of the allocations made to Whitehall departments," Sammy Wilson told UTV.
Mr Wilson said it was largely inevitable that only a small number of significant announcements would be made at this time given the state of public finances and the proximity to the general election.
"This is a politician's budget with an election in mind because many of the hard decisions are being put off until after the election.
"But there's a huge backlog of debt to be dealt with sometime."
Mr Wilson said there will be understandable concern at the implications for local public services of the £12bn in efficiencies expected of Whitehall departments up to 2013-14.
"Although the constraints in public sector pay will also apply to Northern Ireland, a key issue for the Executive is whether we would wish to match the Whitehall efficiency targets and I will be taking forward some preparatory work with my ministerial colleagues early next year."
In his last pre-budget report before the General Election, Chancellor Alistair Darling admitted that the recession was far deeper than he had predicted and announced a public sector pay squeeze to help pay off spiralling national debt.
The Chancellor said public sector workers face a 1% pay cap from 2011, a move which provoked union fury.
Bankers also face a crackdown with a new one-off tax on big bonuses.
Mr Darling laid out plans to slash spending from 2011 - after the General Election - as he admitted the economy would shrink by 4.75% in 2009 compared to his April Budget estimate of 3.5%.
He also said the public finances were deeper in the red with a deficit of £178bn this year compared to the £175bn he had predicted.
But he insisted in his Pre-Budget Report that the economy would start growing by the end of the year and next year would grow by between 1% and 1.5%.
Main points of the Pre-Budget Report, regarding tax:
- One-off 50% levy on any banking bonus above £25,000 before April 5 2010, raising £550 million to get unemployed into work.
- Planned 0.5% increase in National Insurance contributions doubled to 1%, meaning from 2011/12 employees will pay 12% and employers 13.8%. Starting point for NI to be raised so those earning £20,000 will pay no more than at present.
- Plan to increase inheritance tax threshold to £350,000 scrapped for next year. Threshold will be frozen at £325,000 in 2010.
- Thousands more workers to be brought into 40% income tax band by a one-year freeze on the threshold of around £43,000.
- Temporary 2.5% cut in VAT to end on January 1, with the sales tax returning to 17.5%.
- Planned 1% increase in small companies' Corporation Tax deferred for one year, leaving the tax at 21% until 2011/12, when it will increase to 22%.
- Bingo duty cut from 22% to 20% in the spring.
- 50p-a-month duty on landlines to pay for 90% superfast broadband coverage by 2017.
Main points of the Pre-Budget Report, regarding spending:
- No Spending Review to be held.
- Basic state pension to rise by 2.5% in April. Other inflation-linked benefits to rise by 1.5%
- State spending growth to be held to an average 0.8% annually from 2011 to 2015, meaning cuts to some budgets and the scrapping of some programmes.
- Public sector pay bill to be cut by £100m over three years. All new appointments worth £150,000 and bonuses over £50,000 to require Treasury approval.
- Public sector pay rises - outside the armed forces - to be capped at 1% for two years from 2011.
- Spending on frontline NHS and schools to be protected for two years from 2011.
- Savings of £5bn on IT projects, legal aid and prisons.
- Cap on state contributions to public sector pensions, saving £1 billion a year from 2012.
- Extra £2.5bn for Afghanistan military mission next year.
© UTV News