Chancellor Gordon Brown has unveiled his latest Budget - but how will it affect people and businesses in Wales?

Calvin Jones from the Welsh Economy Research Unit is on hand to answer your questions.

Calvin Jones is here to respond to your queries

Will you be hit by higher taxes? Or will you benefit from the changes? And are you willing to pay more to support public services like the NHS?

Please submit your questions using the form below - we'll be publishing Calvin's answers here.

You can also discuss the Budget on our TalkWales message board - click here to join the debate.

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Question: Will anything the Chancellor did today help the farming industry in Wales, which is suffering badly? It seems Gordon Brown largely ignored the plight of rural communities apart from the freeze fuel duties.
Paul Francis, Caernarfon

Calvin: No

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Question: 1% rise in national insurance. Is that 1% total or in fact 2% , 1 for employee and 1 for employer. If so why isn't it called a 2% rise?
Pete, Wales

Calvin: If it's 1% of employee and 1% of employer contributions, then this is still 1% of total contributions.

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Question: Is there anything in the budget to help the struggling manufacturing industry in Wales?
Louise Smith, Newport

Calvin: Given Welsh industry's hitherto very low levels of investment in R&D (research and development), perhaps the incentives in this area may encourage some to close the gap. However, the underlying problems in manufacturing of unfavourable international conditions reinforced by a strong pound are well outside the remit of the budget. Additionally, incentives and help for small firms are less helpful to Wales where there are fewer of them, although those that do exist will, of course, benefit.

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Question: I hear the beer duty payable by village pubs is being halved. But will they be honest enough to pass the price cut onto customers?
Eddie Johnson, Swansea

Calvin: As this will only apply to beers brewed in the pubs, landlords will be only too happy to see customers purchase their own brews, rather than a brewery's - so yes!

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Question: I know that the NHS needs serious funding if it is going to improve but don't you think that by increasing taxes that much consumer spending will go down, which in turn may lead to a recession. Is that something we really want?
Nina Ross, Birmingham

Calvin: If the chancellor does, as we expect, tax higher earners proportionately more, then the effect on consumer spending is likely to be limited - for higher earners, each �1 of income lost would have been more likely to be saved than spent anyway. Also, extra government taxation implies extra government spending - so more economy demand, albeit in a different form.

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