As Alistair Darling presents his first Budget this afternoon he will be doing his best soothe the anger that his October pre-Budget unleashed.

Business and advisers are still fuming over Darling's decision to scrap taper relief, introduce a flat 18% capital gains tax rate and oblige non-doms to pay a £30,000 levy to keep off-shore income tax free.

Experts believe his first priority will be to try and rebuild relations with business by either delaying or making some concessions to the non-dom changes announced last year.

There is even greater certainty that Darling will announce concessions on controversial income shifting rules, which were introduced in response to the House of Lords victory for husband and wife business Arctic Systems against the taxman.

The rules have been described as incredibly onerous and complex by advisers and there is growing expectation that Darling will react to these complaints by easing the compliance burden.

Darling will not only be offering concessions to taxpayers and is set to find extra revenue from somewhere as he attempts to meet the Treasury's golden rule and fill the gap that is likely to be left by falling corporate tax receipts following the credit crunch.

There is a general consensus that Darling will increase national insurance contributions for top earners to increase tax revenues, but there is also talk of more radical measures such a windfall tax on electricity and gas companies or increasing VAT.

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