an aspect of the budget that often gets forgotten is the need to SIMPLIFY our appallingly complex tax system

David Kuo, Director at online investing community The Motley Fool, says:

“The Budget should aim to achieve three things today: It should continue with the deficit-reduction plan; it should spur economic growth and it should maintain political harmony within the coalition.

“It is possible to achieve all three and still remain fiscally neutral. In other words, every tax giveaway should be balanced by a tax claw-back elsewhere to enable the UK to maintain its triple-A credit rating.

“The Budget is unquestionably a key event in the UK political calendar. However, investors need to appreciate that Budgets have little impact on the performance of shares.

“The FTSE 100 index, for instance, is a barometer of the health of global economies. What happens in the UK and the UK economy is largely unimportant to the UK’s blue chips given that their main source of revenues and profits come from abroad.

“Do, however, make a note of the increase in ISA allowances and other incentives that encourages saving and investing for the long term. But don’t be distracted by politically-driven tax measures because investing is more important than that.”

Good points David, I think the updates on small businesses, reducing corporation tax and EIS, etc is really key

On the personal tax statement - this could prove to be a good idea in theory but unworkable in practice. Questions include: what to do about indirect taxes, taxes levied via employers, etc ...

It would be a dream to see VAT scrapped on energy and Fuel tax cut, that would make millions of people feel happier!

Hi everyone, Kathleen here from Forex.com - the countdown begins.

Neil Prothero, lead UK Analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, has commented on the 7 percent stamp duty on properties over 2 million pounds.

He says: "A quid pro quo by the chancellor, alongside plans to clamp down on tax avoidance and pension relief among the very highest earners, in order to provide room for the politically contentious cut in the top rate of income tax from 50% to 45%.

"There has been a sharp rise in the number of £2m+ homes sold in the UK over the past year, the vast majority to foreign buyers in London, so this tax grab can be expected to bring in some extra revenue for the Treasury. But it’s an incremental change, when many would argue that more fundamental reform of the way in which housing is taxed is required, with a particular focus on the taxation of second (or third) homes or introduction of a land value tax."

BBC's Robert Peston tweeting that a rise to 7% for stamp duty could raise GBP700mn a year, based on the last two years of transactions, not something Osborne is likely to snivvle at especially after today's borrowing data.

So that settles one of the big questions on Budget day - Osborne is wearing a BLUE tie.

The Budget is always a closely-watched event but this year the chancellor will be under particularly intense scrutiny as the downgrading of the UK economic outlook and potential downgrading of our coveted AAA credit rating make for what is likely to be a belt-and-braces announcement.

Although fiscal conservatism (with a small c’) and general nervousness are understandable, the government needs to ensure that it does not throw the baby out with the bath water. Cautious bets on potential growth areas are needed if the economy is not to suffer

Technology remains one of the few major levers we can pull to drive a modernised economy and George Osborne needs to show he is looking towards a brighter future rather than merely negotiating the present. These might be dark days for the economy but they come at a time when technology offers some lucrative possibilities. From clean-tech to cloud computing, smart utilities to electric vehicles and from computer games to social networks and location-based services, the technology world continues to move very quickly and you don’t need to be an expert to see that the first-movers at these times of opportunity tend to be the ones that are successful.

So, without expecting a Budget full of ‘give-aways’ we are calling for investment in technology to aid the UK’s competitiveness and cash in on our pockets of excellence.

Tax breaks that help technology businesses to hire and reward investment in core research and development, and to some extent exploitation of that R&D, would be a good start if we are serious about encouraging entrepreneurs in high growth areas, rather than losing them to the US or a host of other countries from India to Brazil that are capitalising on their technological prowess.

As a company with a long history of supporting smaller concerns we’d also like to see more incentives for others to do the same and we’d applaud any moves to get our colleges and universities even more aligned with the private sector.

The pre-Budget rumours are of calls for tax relief for video games companies (1) and a new Science and Technology Institute (2) by the Olympics site. Whatever the merits of these individual projects, a combination of encouragement for businesses today and at the grassroots for the technologists of the future is absolutely the correct combination. While being realistic available investment we maintain that a Budget that fosters the innovative and bold will set an important blueprint for the future of the country and help generate the necessary confidence to approach the future with a view to opportunity and not just risk avoidance.

(1)

www.telegraph.co.uk

(2)
www.thisislondon.co.uk

Hello Tony Dolphin from IPPR signing in.

The BBC is trying to hold a pre-budget chat on Abingdon Green outside the Commons. I'd like to tell you what's being said, but they're being drowned out by Tax the Banks protesters.

Rumours that budget will contain some info about the forthcoming Communications Bill, which will regulate internet and IT sector. I'll be listening carefully to that part – the Comms Bill won't be good news but it may be less bad than many fear.

And another thing...stamp duty. Is that an effective tax? Does it impede domestic demand (building work, carpets etc) by halting transactions? Surely a better way to get the rich to pay more mansion taxes is look at capital gains. After an index linked allowance of say #500,000?

BBC's Andrew Neil ‏(@afneil) tweets:

"Lib Dems to call this Robin Hood Budget thanks to them. But will not get tycoon tax or mansion tax. Only mild variants at best #budget12"

My quote of the day is from John Stepek in MoneyWeek:

"If Christmas Day had an opposite, it would be Budget Day. On Christmas Day, a man in a red suit gives you presents. On Budget Day, a man with a red box tries to steal what he can from you."

So where will the Chancellor focus any
available funds? From a networking, IT and telecoms perspective, I’d like to see the Government continue its deployment of the Public Sector Network; a ubiquitous networking platform for the civil service which has the potential to deliver more than £1.2 billion savings over the next couple of years, while it must also continue its work around the G-Cloud programme.

Re "Robin Hood Budget": do LibDems think comparing themselves to a gang leader whio stole from the rich is a good idea?

Barcap has called this the Budget of small numbers - I tend to agree. Robin Hood Budget is a little too grand...

Richard Wellings from the Institute of Economic Affairs joining the debate. Hello everyone.

Tax cuts funded by spending cuts to reduce total government expenditure would be a really bad move right now. Impact on economic output would be negative at just the wrong time.