The Budget - what do you want in it?

Work should pay
Reward people who work.
Tighten benefits....too much spent on shirkers.
Only people who have paid NI should have free NHS... .....too many people using the system who have not contributed.
OAPs should be paid more than people on benefits.
Tania Hallett, Kent

Ban second homes
Ban people from owning more than one house or flat then maybe first time buyers can buy one one.
D Carter, Yeovil

Increase tax on fags
1. Increase threshold for when stamp duty is payable on property purchases from £120k to £180k
2. Change sliding scale thresholds for stamp duty payable - presently £250k+ is 3% - amend to £325k and 4% for proprty above £750k. Poss have a 6% charge on props above £3m.
3. Increase inheritance tax threshold from £275k to £600k
4. Write off NHS debts - by increasing income tax by 1-2p.
5.Increase duty on cigarettes etc by £2.50
Robert Wanders, Whetstone London

Get them back to work
If I had to improve the budget I would reduce the amount of unemployed benefits, in order to make returning to work the most financially viable option. That way university education can be subsidised. This will give us a better trained workforce, in order to compete with other countries more effectively and with a higher proportion of better trained people the amount of income tax would increase. I would also order a re-shuffle of the NHS.
James Brunton, aged 16, Leire, Lutterworth, Leicester

More for the NHS
Reply to Jon. Your totally right. We have such a great, free service that many take for granted. I would love to see more money for the NHS, so that it can be an even greater service to one and all.
Lyndsay, Northern Ireland

Spend our money better
I don't think we should tax the higher earners, and I don't believe that we should be giving more benefits (it only encourages more people to sponge, instead of earning) I think the current system generates enough revenue. The real problem lies with the government, and how THEY spend the money and particularly how efficient they are at doing so. I see too many politicians on fat wages, and also too much wastage. Particulary on bureaucratic activities, which only eat up the funds that hard working people have contributed towards their country's specific needs.
Chet, Essex

Cut the red tape
Stamp duty should not be charged below house prices of £175k
Top rate of tax should not increase, this country has lost enough wealth builders
Inheritance tax should come in over £500k
We should reduce taxes spent on NHS, education, social services by having less red tape.
David, Chelmsford

Tax second homes
I 'd like to see a tax on second homes to help cut the demand for housing and allow younger people to get onto the housing ladder.
Mike, Wiltshire

Get back to the safety net
1. Get off the backs of the hard working punitively taxed workers of 'Middle Britain'.
2. Reduce waste by sorting out the feckless, workshy and parasites for whom the Welfare State has become a big soft floppy cushion rather than it's original concept of being simply a "safety net".
I shall not hold my breath! Anyway I'm sure Mr Brown knows how to spend my money better and more wisely than I do.
Another £300.00 or so out of my back pocket again then this year - business as usual!
Gary Needham, Chesterfield

Scrap Inheritance Tax
Gordon Brown should scrap Inheritence Tax, increase the state pension and start helping single people who work but earn a low income, especially when it comes to housing, instead of keep giving handouts to those single mothers and families which have got no intention of ever working.Why have kids if you cannot afford to bring them up?
Susan Lamley, Warwickshire

Help for the sick and the elderly
Increase Inheritance Tax threshhold to £400000
Increase basic state pension to £105 per person
Increase personal allowance by 10%
Set up state-run medical mutual fund compulsory for all tax payers to subsidise health costs
Use lottery funds for health care costs and care of the elderly.
G Murray, Southampton

Inflation-linked pensions
I am a 73-year-old pensioner. Four years ago I was ok financially but all my savings have now gone into living standards. We need a proper weekly pension linked to inflation we are supposed to be a wealthy country as opposed to others where is the money
going not to us old ones?
Mr K Crowther, Dorset

Let's abolish it
Abolish Inheritence Tax. It now pays to die a pauper rather than have all you have worked and paid for re-taxed by an avaricious, greedy government.
Abolish Council Tax.Replace the money lost with a 1-2p tax rise.
Abolish Capital Gains Tax. The main reason I rent. Why should I mortgage myself to the hilt only to find any profit I make on a house taxed?
Simon Greenham. Bristol

Help carers
To increase the carers allowance to that of a more realistic figure in line for the work and committment they do.
Pat Snell, Hastings