What do I find most pleasing about today's confirmation by small business minister Mark Prisk that the government will indeed scrap all regional Business Links? Well not just that it'll save millions of pounds of wastage on a scheme few used and even fewer found effective, but the hope it represents the dawn of an era where the government listens to business. Now that would be something to get excited about.

While Mark Prisk and the new Con-Lib coalition government might be happy to take the credit for deciding to wield the axe on local Business Links (and I'm happy to afford them this), the move itself and every justification for it mirrored the findings of the Richard Report, published back in 2008 by the Small Business Task Force, chaired by SchoolforStartups' Doug Richard.

Having just become an intern for Smarta, my life, like so many others, now revolves around the commute in and out of London. With the knowledge that I will be spending roughly 10 hours a week on the train, it struck me that so many of us are losing valuable time during our daily commute. This time, however, shouldn't be wasted.

If you run your own company, your train journey can actually be a welcome window of uninterrupted work time.

George Osborne's first Budget did as was expected of it: cut public spending and raise some taxes in an effort to combat the deficit.

The Chancellor introduced an eye-catching 2.5% increase in VAT, a rise in capital gains tax, both large and small company corporation tax is to be reduced, and employers will be spared the increase in national insurance contributions planned by the last Government.

But what does the budget mean for you? We found out by asking Justin Randall from leading charted accountants Jeffreys Henry LLP.

What can you buy for £40m a year? Well with the help of a small loan you could run the Business Link and UKTI websites for a year, apparently. That'd be Business Link, the costliest of all government-funded websites, and UKTI, the least cost-effective.

60-second start-up profiles new businesses in a super-fast flash. Today husband and wife team Taryn Westberg and Enrico Cacciorni, founders of web communications wedding company Glö, go up against the Smarta stopwatch.

Lee Petar is the co-founder of Tetra Strategy, a strategic communications and PR consultancy. He has 15 years of political and media experience.

In a clever budget of unparalleled importance that will define the trajectory of Britain's and the government's economic and political future, Chancellor George Osborne provided a radical Budget announcement that will fundamentally change the future complexion of Britain's economy and society.  By cutting heavier and deeper than some have said is needed, he has defined the means by which he and the coalition government will be judged.

Here's our round-up of the measures that will affect you. Please feel free to comment on them below.

VAT

• VAT will 2.5%, from 17.5% to 20% from January 4 2011.
• This is to create £13bn to put towards the deficit, but it's a savage kick in the teeth for retailers in particular.

Corporation tax

• Corporation tax for small businesses will be cut from 21% to 20% next year.
• Corporation tax for businesses in general will fall by 1% a year, every year for next four years, so will be only 24% in four years. This makes it more favourable than most other European countries.

The BBC's Iain Watson says: "The cuts are quite modest - the right of the Conservative Party would have liked to see the tax cut overall to 18 or 20%, not just 24% over four years."

When the Budget is announced this Tuesday (22 June) at 12:30 pm, we'll be reporting live on everything you need to know as a small business. We'll be including retweeted commentary from the very best minds in business and economics - and you can add your own responses too.

Set a reminder for the live coverage below, or from Tuesday at 12:30 just click on the panel then enter your name to follow what's happening - and, if you like, leave a comment.

There's a whole world of opportunity out there for businesses like yours - literally. And exporting offers up particularly lucrative rewards at the moment, while the pound is cheap and our economy is struggling. Countries like Brazil, the 10th largest economy in the world, and India, the capital of which has more millionaires per square mile than anywhere else on earth, are flourishing - and your business could well be too if it started trading there. (There are of course plenty of opportunities in Europe too.)

Exporting doesn't have to be a terrifying, red-tape-smothered no-go. It just takes common sense, a good deal of research and a few chats with other people who have been there and done it.

Alan Sugar is the latest to join an angry chorus of pro-enterprise voices speaking out against the increases to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) expected in Tuesday's Budget.

The Coalition government has been explicit about wanting to bring CGT rates in line with income tax - meaning that money made on 'non-business assets' could incur a tax penalty of 40%, a whopping increase from its current 18% haven.

There are two reasons the proposed CGT increase would be such a catastrophe for enterprise. The first is that it would massively deter investors from putting their cash into promising young start-ups, rather than making safer investments. (Since currently, the risk of investing in a start-up is made worthwhile by the lucrative possibility of making a shedload of cash and only being taxed 18% on it.)