loveMONEY Readers' Budget 2016: what YOU think George Osborne should do

Here’s what loveMONEY readers want to see happen.

There’s not long left to wait for George Osborne to deliver his next Budget statement.

Last week we asked your opinions on a range of issues that might come up in this year’s Budget. Here’s what you said.

Raising taxes

You were quite clear about the changes you want to see to taxes.

Well over a third (39%) of you said you want to see corporate tax rates raised.

Unfortunately, this seems unlikely as the Chancellor has committed to cut the main rate of Corporation Tax by 2% by 2020.

The main rate from April 2016 will be 20%. But from April 2017 this will be lowered to 19% and kept here until April 2020 when it will be brought down to 18%.

In his June Budget speech, the Chancellor said: “We’re giving businesses the lower taxes they can count on, to grow with confidence, invest with confidence and create jobs with confidence.

"A new 18% rate of corporation tax – sending out loud and clear the message around the world: Britain is open for business.”

Lowering taxes

When it comes to lowering taxes, 40% of you think Income Tax should be brought down.

However, you are divided on cutting the top rate of tax, with 49% saying the Chancellor should and 51% saying he shouldn’t.

There are rumours that Osborne may cut the top rate of tax after it was revealed his last cut from 50% to 45% in 2012 raised £8 billion for the Exchequer in 2013/14.

However, raising the threshold before higher rate tax is applied to £50,000 is a much more popular option with 77% of you saying that’s what he should do, versus 23% that think it's a bad idea.

Public spending

The Chancellor has warned that weaker than hoped for growth and turbulence in the global markets will mean more cuts in the forthcoming Budget.

Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show over the weekend the Chancellor revealed the cuts would amount to the ‘equivalent to 50p in every £100’ of public spending by 2020. This might not sound like much but experts predict that amounts to £4 billion worth of cuts. However, he hasn’t revealed where the axe will fall.

Over a quarter (26%) of you think the Chancellor should focus cuts on Culture, Media and Sport to make the savings he needs. Meanwhile 24% think he should target the Defence budget and 20% think savings could be made on Energy and Climate Change.

Pensions

Despite making a U-turn on reforms to pension taxation last week, it is widely anticipated that the Chancellor might still do some tinkering with pensions.

Experts reckon he may still try to cut the annual allowance, cut the lifetime allowance, extend the annual allowance taper or restrict salary sacrifice.

And 35% of you think the fairest thing to do would be to restrict salary sacrifice.

Salary sacrifice for pension contributions enable both a worker and employee to pay lower National Insurance Contributions, which make it a cost effective way of saving for retirement. It's estimated the Chancellor could raise £15 billion by introducing NICs on the amount sacrificed before tax.

Business and infrastructure

Over a quarter (27%) of you think the Chancellor should spend more on cities outside London to help boost British businesses.

The Chancellor has made a big deal about building a Northern Powerhouse in previous speeches, which aims to rebalance the UK economy by pushing growth outside London to Northern cities.

Part of his plan involves devolving power to northern cities, funding Oyster-style contactless ticketing and investing in new transport links like HS2, which is a project to build a high-speed rail service between London and Birmingham, the East Midlands and the north.

However, 68% of loveMONEY readers think HS2 should be scrapped because of its enormous cost. With a budget of nearly £43 billion it will be the most expensive project ever embarked on in peace time.

Housing

Demand outstripping the supply of homes in the UK is frequently cited as the main reason house prices are so high.

But ministers have accused British developers of limiting the supply of new homes that have been approved for development on purpose to keep house prices artificially high.

Figures from the Local Government Association show that planning permissions has been granted for a record 475,647 homes in England which are yet to be built

Over a third (39%) of you think the solution is to take some power away from greedy developers and give local authorities more power to build homes where they are needed.

Reducing the deficit

Osborne will be trying to balance the books once again especially if he is hoping to reach a surplus by 2020.

The budget deficit, which is the amount the government has to borrow to meet the shortfall between income from tax receipts and government spending, is estimated to be £70 billion by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Nearly half (45%) of loveMONEY readers think the Chancellor needs to targets big companies like Google in order to bring down the deficit in the year ahead, while 21% think tax dodgers generally need to be targeted.

Of the surprising ways Felicity Hannah set out in From selling Channel 4 to a tax on sugar: extraordinary ways the Government could destroy the deficit 22% of love MONEY readers think there should be a Robin Hood Tax. This would mean every transaction made with stocks, bonds, foreign currency and derivatives would incur a 0.05% Financial Transactions Tax which could raise an estimated £20 billion in the UK.

Better or worse off?

We also asked whether you feel better off, worse off or the same after the last Budget and 46% of you said they felt they were no better or worse off after the last Budget.

However, looking ahead readers are less optimistic, with 58% thinking they will be worse off when the Chancellor delivers the Budget tomorrow.

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More on the Budget:

Budget 2016: date and what we know so far

Budget 2016: what the experts think will happen