Rachel Reeves’ second Budget will be published today after some weeks of leaks and u-turns.

Will it present any surprises or major tax moves?

Experts are united in agreeing that are many challenges the Chancellor faces.

Russ Mould, AJ Bell investment director, said: “Rachel Reeves will be approaching her second Budget with memories of the upset in financial markets caused by September 2022’s mini-Budget still fresh in her mind, but she also has to appease voters and consumers while sticking to manifesto promises on tax and international commitments to increase defence spending.”

Marc Acheson, global wealth specialist at Utmost Wealth Solutions, said: “The Budget is likely to include another significant round of additional tax increases such as a 'Mansion Tax' alongside potentially further tinkering with the Inheritance Tax (IHT) and Capital Gains Tax regimes that will fall on the wealthy.

“Unfortunately, such measures do little to support the UK’s standing as a competitive and appealing jurisdiction for wealth.

“With the country’s top 1% of taxpayers contributing to a third of all tax revenue, policymakers must work harder to stem the outflow of the wealth community and get the UK back to becoming an attractive destination for wealth. In the meantime, given the expected myriad of tax changes, we expect to see continued levels of high demand for financial advisers to support long-term Financial Planning.”

Nigel Green of deVere Group said Rachel Reeves won’t be forgiven by the public if she tinkers with inheritance tax allowances. He said: “Altering the thresholds now would trigger a backlash unlike anything the Treasury has faced in years.

“Families across the UK are already stretched by frozen thresholds, rising asset values, and steadily increasing fiscal drag, and that any attempt to worsen the position would be a political and economic misjudgement of remarkable scale.

“Inheritance tax is already regarded as the most-hated tax in the country. People accept income tax. They accept VAT. They even tolerate capital gains tax. Yet they see inheritance tax as fundamentally unfair because it strikes after a lifetime of tax-paying. Reducing allowances would not simply annoy voters. It would infuriate them.”

Stephen Jones, global CIO at Aegon Asset Management, said long-term thinking will ultimately determine the UK’s success. He said: “The current fiscal projections and rules – which the government has chosen to follow over the next three to five years – are built on a foundation of assumptions. These assumptions, while necessary for modelling, create a false sense of certainty, deliver spurious accuracy.

“The fact is that the economic landscape is shaped by variables far beyond the reach of any single budget cycle or set of fiscal rules. In truth we are still in the foothills of dealing with the mountainous journey we chose on leaving the EU; in the foothills of looking at the impacts on enhanced AI technology on a service lead economy; and in the foothills of appreciating the life changing revolutions sweeping through medicine. 

“By centring the narrative solely on short-term rule compliance, we risk missing the deeper, structural challenges that will define the UK’s future.”