Yet small businesses are under attack from the taxman.

According to figures provided by Peterborough chartered accountants Saffery Champness, the tax burden for small firms in the city will rise by £10 million over the next 12 months.

That's an average of £500 per company straight into the Government's fast dwindling, if not actually empty, coffers.

But these figures only account for the two increases in Corporation Tax that were effectively waved through by Chancellor Alistair Darling in his Budget last week. Both are really the work of the former Chancellor and now Prime Minister Gordon Brown. In his last Budget he not only flagged up the two increases still to come but there and then he also raised the rate by one per cent to 20 per cent.

Three tax hikes in one go – a triple whammy for small firms.

But these are not the only tax increases.

Bills for the next round of business rates – the National Non Domestic Rate – are dropping on to bosses' desks and you can almost hear the gnashing of teeth in boardrooms around Peterborough as directors fury over extravagant calculations.

Speak to any owner of a small firm in Peterborough and they will spit blood as they see the fruits of their labour and their enterprise milked away.

Other than moan they are unlikely to do anything about it because they're too busy running their companies.

But the underlying anger is real. They feel their size makes them an easy target for the Chancellor.

But that continual drip drip from the bottom line is the sound of the lifeblood of our economy being drained away.