The pre-Budget report happened yesterday, don’t know if you heard. As usual, it was seen as something of a mixed bag for small businesses; the Tories and the big accountancy firms said it smacked of ‘buy now, pay later’, but small business groups said it provided some welcome short-term relief.

The big headlines were a £7bn pot of tax cuts and loan promises for small businesses, coupled with a nasty 0.5 per cent increase in NIC which affects both employees and employers and will net HMRC £5bn a year – that starts in 2011.

Also unpopular will be the increase to 45% of income tax for people earning more than £150,000 a year. That affects not only wealthy people in Britian, but also could act as a deterrent to highly skilled workers from abroad who are considering coming to work in the UK.

Other changes include a postponement of the planned increase in small business coporation tax, spreading tax payments for small businesses struggling with cash-flow, extended loss relief allowing small firms to carry back losses for three years and a gradual reduction in personal allowances for high-earners.

A mixed bag indeed, but how will it affect you?

Alistair Darling is getting it fron all sides at the moment: criticism, demands, and accusations. Here’s the latest from the second group: it’s in the form of the Federation of Small Businesses’ pre-Budget wish-list for SMEs.

It wants the government to abolish a planned increase in small business corporation tax (coming into force next year) and the creation of £1bn ’survival fund’ to bail out stricken businesses who can’t get bank funding.

Darling may repeal the tax hike, but that just leaves things the way they are. We doubt there’ll be much in the way of tangible goodies for small firms come 24 November.

A group of MPs and small businesses are tearing into Alistair Darling over an upcoming increase in corporation tax for small businesses.

The tax was announced by Gordon Brown in the 2007 Budget, and was controversial then, but now it is seen as cruel and unusual.

MPs, including Labour ones, have signed a petition to get the increase repealed while The Daily Mail and the Federation of Small Businesses are on the war path – demanding a tax cut!

Darling must be having sleepless nights and will have a job making anyone happy via his pre-Budget report later this month. Realistically, in the medium-to-long-term taxes can only go one way – and it ain’t down!

Look out for short-term dilluted fiscal stimulus followed by a big back lash at the first sign of a return to normalcy. Read more about it here.