Just read a very conscise and helpful review of yesterdays pre-budget announcements over at the Small Biz Blog.

If you run a small business then it would definitely be worth your while taking a quick look. There is also an interesting perspective put forward by Mark Lee at the Tax Advisors network

Read our views

Personal opinion: cutting VAT by 2.5% will not make a jot of a difference. Clearly this would only have any impact for consumers and with retailers already offering MASSIVE sales discounts what difference will 2.5% make? Probably a bigger concern is the administrative impact of this change and the hidden cost associated with that…

From my naive position, it seems fairly obvious that people will start spending money once they actually ‘feel’ like they have funds available to them. Secure in the knowledge that they won’t lose their jobs and have cash in their pocket. Whilst these basic requirements are not met then offering spending incentives *should* be of little value.

Of course there are some who will spend even if they can’t afford it and will be lured by tempting retail strategies. But wait, was such behaviour not at the centre of the financial dung heap we find ourselves in now?