Drinkers, drivers and smokers will soon be paying more for their “sins” after this week's Budget, but the changes to personal tax rates and allowances, which take effect next month, will have a bigger impact on the nation's wallets.

Duty on spirits went up for the first time in ten years, by 55p a bottle. Wine increased by 14p and beer by 4p, while the price of a packet of 20 cigarettes rose by 11p. The increase in tobacco duty came into effect on Wednesday evening, but drinkers have until tomorrow to get supplies in. Jan Ellis, of Blick Rothenberg, the accountant, says: “Get down to the supermarket quickly and stock up.”

Drivers - except those who own vehicles with the lowest carbon emissions - will be penalised despite a delay in a 2p increase on fuel duty until October. From April next year road tax will increase, except for the least-polluting vehicles with emissions below 120g/km. There will be a £5 increase for vehicles in Bands C to F, while a £100 increase will apply to vehicles registered from March 23, 2003, in Band G. From 2010 the lowest-polluting new cars will pay no road tax in the first year, but the most-polluting will pay £950.

However, experts say that the real effect will not come from the changes to duty on cars and wine, but from changes to personal tax allowances, income tax rates and national insurance contributions announced in Gordon Brown's last Budget and which come into effect next month.

About 1.8 million workers who earn between £6,500 and £15,000 will be much worse off, paying an effective tax rate of up to 70 per cent after the scrapping of the 10 per cent tax rate. However, most taxpayers can expect to experience some change to take-home pay, with some being better and some worse off. Joyce Anderson, an 80-year-old pensioner from Glasgow, will be £982 a year better off, mainly because of the changes to income tax. But Kevin Hogarth and Jessica Guest, who live in Newcastle and have a joint income of less than £30,000 a year, will be worse off by £34.

On Wednesday Mr Darling said that child benefit will increase to £20 a week from April next year, giving a total of £21,169 received before a child's 16th birthday. An increase in the child tax credit by £50 a year, and the decision to ignore child benefit when calculating income for housing and council tax benefit, should also benefit low-income families.

However, accountants cast doubt on the likely effectiveness of the measures because of problems with the tax credit system. Francesca Lagerberg, head of tax at Grant Thornton, the accountant, says: “Year after year it has been criticised for being burdensome and poorly implemented. Better to increase personal allowance limits so the Chancellor knows that the extra money is going directly to the families that need it, rather than throw good money at a bad system.”

Young teachers and nurses - the Government's key workers - are the only beneficiaries of new schemes to boost home ownership. The Chancellor said that they would be able to borrow up to 50 per cent of the value of a home, from a current maximum of 25 per cent, on shared-ownership schemes. They will also no longer have to pay stamp duty until they own 80 per cent of their homes. However, housing experts say that this move benefits only a small minority and that other first-time buyers have been ignored.

Pensioner groups welcomed a top-up on winter fuel payments of £50 for the over-60s and £100 for the over-80s this year, but they also pointed out that the extra cash would be unlikely to cover the huge rises in energy prices over recent months.

Meanwhile, disability charities criticised a measure designed to help unemployed incapacity benefit claimants back to work as unhelpful. The Chancellor announced that from April 2010 claimants would have to take a test to assess whether they are fit for employment. The Government wants to cut the number of incapacity claimants from 2.6 million to 1 million by 2015.

Non-domiciled UK taxpayers were left disappointed. They were denied a reprieve of a £30,000 charge that will be levied once they have been in the UK for seven years. They can also no longer use offshore interest-only mortgages to buy property in the UK. Andrew Tailby-Faulkes, tax partner at Ernst & Young, another accountant, says: “Rather than taking the opportunity to simplify a complex tax regime, the Chancellor has taken rules that are already complex and made them even more complicated.”