Budget 'to hit gas guzzlers hard'
Gordon Brown is expected to radically raise the tax on larger-engined cars in Wednesday's Budget.
Some reports suggest that road tax on the least fuel efficient cars will double to about £400 a year.
At the same time, business groups have urged Mr Brown not to introduce more company taxes.
Businesses are paying almost £12bn more in tax in 2008/9 than they were when Labour came to power, the Engineering Employers Federation said.
Surging taxes have hit manufacturer profitability hard and turned many companies away from the UK, it added.
The Budget's green measures fall short of those demanded by environmental lobbyists, some of whom have called for road tax to be raised to over £1,000 for polluting vehicles.
Good news, bad news
Consultants Ernst & Young believe Gordon Brown is unlikely to introduce any business tax cuts.
"The best we can hope for is a programme of reduction over the course of the next five years but we are far more likely to see no action at all," the group said in a report on its predictions for this week's budget.
Ernst & Young's report also predicted there would be little on offer that would be welcomed by individual tax payers.
"The good news is that there are unlikely to be any significant tax increases for individuals," said personal tax partner Patrick Stevens.
Brown certainly packs his bags at an opportune time 
"The bad news is that anyone thinking that the chancellor will use his last Budget to reduce the tax burden is likely to be disappointed."
Mr Brown is widely expected to tighten the rules on inheritance tax in this, his 11th, Budget .
Meanwhile, with property prices continuing to rise many believe he will act on the issue stamp duty - currently buyers do not pay the duty on properties priced below £125,000.
However he may also offer a few concessions to property owners who are prepared to "go green".
Ernst & Young predict the chancellor will set out more details on the stamp duty land tax exemption for the purchase of so-called "zero carbon" homes, which he first mooted in his Pre-Budget report.
'Missed opportunity'
Widespread belief that the day will mark Mr Brown's final Budget has sparked a series of appraisals of his time at the helm of the UK's finances.
Shadow chancellor George Osborne accused Mr Brown of squandering a golden age for the global economy and instead wallowing in his own "self-congratulation".
"It is the case that for the last 15 years or so the whole world has enjoyed global low inflation, globally low interest rates," Mr Osborne told the BBC.
"I know Gordon Brown takes credit for that - it's probably more to do with the Chinese work force."
Meanwhile, former Tory chancellor Kenneth Clarke said Mr Brown had "got the public finances into a quite dreadful mess".
"Brown certainly packs his bags at an opportune time," said Peter Spencer chief economic adviser to the Ernst & Young ITEM Club added.
Mr Spencer added Mr Brown would probably draw a line under his time as chancellor by claiming he has met his fiscal rules and is leaving the economy on track for 3% growth this year.
"What he actually leaves is a large structural deficit and a national tax burden rising to its highest in over 20 years," Mr Spencer added.
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