It looks like the fuel duty rise will be deferred but what else would you like the chancellor to do?

I guess for most of you fuel costs is one of the key concerns you have, but there must be others.

What sort of budget should he be writing for farming?

That Agriculture's even on his radar would be amazing. Two quick things from me:

Agricultural Buildings Allowance should not phased out. Its being done on the basis of simplicity in the tax system but its exactly the sort of measure which will help us to address so many of the challenges that we face currently.

HMT should properly support the public procurement initiatives out there. While they're not engaged I think that Government departments are too scared to get on board. If the treasury really supported these initiatives with hard cash and procurers didn't live in fear of auditors then we could actually get decent food on public plates.

I'd like to see the Family Business Tax proposals dropped.  I believe many more rural businesses will be affected by this that at first appears and it could be a serious blow to many struggling families in the countryside.

Some money allocated to upgrade and improve facilities such as at Pirbright so last year's fiasco can never happen again.  We should be retaining such world class research not running it down.

Budget at a glance

• The biofuels duty differential to be replaced by the Renewable Fuels Transport Obligation raising £550m for the Treasury in 2010-11
• The return of a new fuel tax escalator from 2010 with the half pence per litre rise in tax each year, over inflation.
• UK economy growth forecast cut to 2%
• £43bn budget deficit next year - up £7bn
• 11p increase on the price of the pack of cigarettes from 1800hrs on Wednesday, 12 March
• Beer up by 4p a pint, wine 14p a bottle, spirits 55p a bottle and cider 3p a litre from Sunday, 16 March
• Duties on alcohol will go up by 2% above inflation for next four years
• Winter fuel allowance will go up from £200 to £250 for the over 60s and from £300 to £400 for the over 80s (for one year only)
• From 2009, major reform of the vehicle excise duty. For new cars from 2010, the lowest polluting cars will pay no road tax in the first year. Higher polluting cars will pay more

More here:

http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2008/03/12/109787/chancellor-increases-tax-burden-by-2bn-by-2010.html

townie:

I'd like to see the Family Business Tax proposals dropped.

As always it is the press releases that have all the detail...

Too true Is, my man at Grant Thornton says he is wading though 100 of the blighters issued by the Treasury this afternoon.

Scrap all CGT exemptions and roll-over relief. There is no need for principal private residences, nor farmland to be a special case as they are both forms of capital. Both these exmptions distort the real value of these assets, and are real barriers to changes in ownership and new entrants to either the housing markets or land ownership.

Neither of those going to happen though!

Couldnt really care about fuel - its not a cosideration in budgets behind rent, fertiliser, spray etc etc. Oil prices will keep rising and certinly faster than 2p a litre.

I expect my farming budget would be a simple promise not to change things in the next budget. Despite my view that the long term is just a lot of short terms all stuck together, I know that I run the farm as a longer term business, and a degree of stabity would be great. Even just a promise not to increase the burden of red tape would be great, but I would love to see a chancellor stand up and say "Next year......all is fine.....lets just leave everthing the same and see how it goes."

Jacobus:

townie:

I'd like to see the Family Business Tax proposals dropped.

Not mentioned in the speech - but the press releases show 'Income Shifting' proposals to be subject to further consultation - with a view to legislation in the 2009 Finance Bill

Yeah, it's usually the post budget notes that dump the nasties on us.  But this one seems to have been kicked into touch following the lobbying by a number of groups.

Nice to see the government getting a bit more realistic about growth than they have been in the last few budgets.  Perhaps Mr Darling is covering his back as no doubt his puppet-master will cut the strings without a second thought if things pan out worse than predicted.