Rachel Reeves is putting the finishing touches to her second Budget. We can’t say for certain what’s in it, but one thing is clear. We’re not going to like it. She looks set to hike a heap of taxes while doing nothing to get a grip on public spending. The best we can hope for is that it doesn’t end in a gilts crisis and run on sterling.

Tax levels are already the highest since the Second World War but Labour MPs refuse to cut public spending. Reeves can’t borrow more without spooking the bond markets, so all that’s left is yet another tax grab. And that’s exactly what we’ll get, to the tune of around £30billion.

Cuts to the Cash ISA allowance, tighter inheritance tax rules, a hike in fuel duty, and raids on homes, pensions and heaven-knows-what else are all on the table.

After almost half a year of speculation, I’ve had enough. Instead of guessing what she will do, here are three things she SHOULD do.

Sadly, none of them are likely to happen.

1. Axe the stamp duty land tax. Stamp duty is arguably the worst tax Britain has. Whoever thought it was a good idea to charge people thousands – sometimes tens of thousands – every time they want to move home? As if moving wasn’t expensive enough already.

Stamp duty strangles mobility. It traps families in small homes, older people in large homes, and workers in unsuitable jobs.

Yes, it raises more than £9billion a year, but the true loss to the Treasury from scrapping it would be half that. Remove the tax and people would move, builders would build, plumbers, electricians, plasters and fitters would get more work, and the government would tax them.

Will Reeves scrap it? Fat chance. She’ll most likely double down on the property raids with a new “mansion tax”. This will gum up the market even further and drag more households into higher bills over time.

Now here’s something else Reeves should do but sadly won’t.

2. Guarantee not to touch our pensions. Ever. Every Budget triggers the same grim ritual: weeks of panicked rumours about raids on pensions.

For the second year running, savers have rushed to take their 25% tax-free lump sums because they’re terrified Reeves will strike. She’s now ruled that out, but too late for many who acted in fear.

There’s still talk of curbing salary sacrifice schemes and cutting higher-rate pension relief and the £60,000 pensions annual allowance. How can anybody plan for decades when the rules threaten to shift every year? Britain desperately needs people to save, yet the Treasury seems determined to make it harder.

Reeves should guarantee long-term stability and stop treating pension pots like her personal playthings.

And there’s one more thing she should do.

3. Reverse last year’s inheritance raid on farmers and family businesses. One of the cruellest measures in last year’s Budget was slapping inheritance tax on farmers and family firms. These are businesses built over generations, now hammered with bills they can’t afford.

Farmers are already at breaking point. Family businesses face demands running into the millions when a founder dies. All this raises around £500million, but the economic and social damage is far higher.

Reeves should swallow her pride and scrap this spiteful raid.

There’s plenty more she should do, such as get a grip on welfare spending, but that really is too much to hope for.