If you drive a gas-guzzler and like a tipple, Alistair Darling’s first Budget will hit you in the pocket.

For everyone else, Gordon Brown’s last Budget in 2007 is likely to have a far greater impact on your personal finances from April.

The headline measure in today’s statement was higher tax for polluting cars. From 2009, there will be six new bands for vehicle excise duty, with a top band (M) for cars that emit more than 255g of CO2 per km.

There will also be a first year rate, dubbed the ‘showroom’ tax, of up to £950 for the most polluting cars.

BACKGROUND

• Darling's first Budget: the main points

• The Chancellor's speech in full

• Darlings first Budget: the reaction

• Chancellor hits the home budget as his debts soar

• Need to know: Budget 2008

Multimedia

• The winners and losers

Rose-tinted specs fail to offer hope

The obvious justification for Mr Darling’s relatively upbeat scenario is that the outlook is fraught with uncertainty

Multimedia

• Video: the 'fingers crossed' budget

Mr Darling claimed that motorists will be no better or worse off, but figures buried in the Budget statement revealed that the government would raise £465 million in 2009 to 2010 from the measures, rising to £735 million the following year.

Duty on alcohol was also hiked by 6 per cent. This will add 4p to the price of a pint of beer, 14p to the price of a bottle of wine and 55p to the price of a bottle of spirits.

Equally important for our household finances are the more than 30 changes that Gordon Brown announced this time last year. They will mean big changes in the amount of tax and National Insurance we pay, and what we contribute to a pension.

The government is removing the 10 per cent starting rate of tax on non-savings income, and reducing the basic rate of tax from 22 to 20 per cent.

This means the tax relief that goes into personal pensions will also go down by 2 per cent, and savers will need to contribute an extra £72 a year to remain in the same position.

While those earning less than £18,500 lose out from the changes, most higher earners gain.

For example someone earning £50,000 pays £14,924 in income tax and Nics now, but will pay only £14,545 from April – a saving of £379.

Mr Darling also sought to make his first budget one for pensioners, announcing that they will get an additional one-off payment alongside their 2009 winter fuel allowance, of £100 for over-80s and £50 for the over 60s. This will benefit around 9 million households, the government claimed.

However, consumer groups called it a “sticking plaster” measure, and again last year’s Budget was more beneficial for pensioners. The government announced that the personal allowance for people aged between 65 and 74 would go up by £1,180 above inflation to £9,030, compared with £7,500 currently.

A pensioner couple both aged 70 could be up to £1,577 a year better off from April as a result, according to figures from accountants Blick Rothenberg.

For savers, there was disappointment that there were no new tax break for Isas, although wealthy investors will benefit from an increase in the amount they can invest in an Enterprise Investment Scheme from £400,000 to £500,000. You can get 20 per cent tax relief on investments in an EIS, so the tax break will go up from £80,000 to £100,000.

Yet again, the government disappointed hard-pressed first-time buyers with no concessions on stamp duty, although from today people who use shared ownership schemes will pay the duty only when they purchase the final 20 per cent of the property.

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