Simon Read: This was for the few, not the many

The Government is charging people more to play the same game in real life than online

The headlines may be about bankers' bonuses, but the Chancellor is set to claw 10 times as much cash from us through the relatively small increase in National Insurance. He'll get an estimated half a billion pounds from the one-off tax on bankers, but raise an extra £5bn a year from National Insurance contributions by the time it's increased by 0.5 per cent next April and another 0.5 per cent in April 2011.

So who really is hit hardest? The supertax on bonuses is clearly designed to please people angered by bank excesses. But while we all stand and applaud, Alistair Darling will quietly pick our pockets. His cleverness is keeping the increase to just 0.5 per cent at a time, so it will hardly be noticeable in our pay packets. But the truth is that all workers are facing an extra 1 per cent tax hike by 2011.

It adds up to a simple truth: the lasting legacy of this year's pre-Budget report for millions of workers will be less take-home pay. The pain will be worsened by the freeze on personal allowances announced yesterday. Keeping allowances at the current 2009-2010 levels for another year will save the Treasury about £2.2bn. That's money coming out of ordinary folks' pockets, not wealthy bankers'.

It will become worse in 2012 when the rate at which people pay 40 per cent tax is frozen. More of us will be dragged into the higher tax bracket, meaning, in effect, a further pay cut. About 70,000 people will end up as higher-rate taxpayers as a result of the freeze, netting a further £400m for the Treasury, cash taken straight out of our wallets and purses.

Two other populist proposals – the bingo tax cut and the boiler scrappage scheme – also look, at first glance, to be vote winners. More on the boiler scheme below but who doesn't cheer the reduction of tax on bingo, especially as it brings cheer to hundreds of thousands of people every week?

But all the Chancellor did yesterday was give a little back after taking away a lot at the last Budget. Bingo tax was only increased from 15 per cent to 22 per cent in April, so yesterday's trumpeting of a 2 per cent cut in the tax will still leave bingo players as net losers over the last year.

It is worth noting that the rate of tax applied to sport betting, betting exchanges, casino games, internet gambling and football pools is still levied at 15 per cent. That also includes internet bingo which means the Government is, in effect, charging people more to play the same game in real life than online. That's infuriating to the bingo industry and, let's face it, complete nonsense.

The Government's statement yesterday claimed it is "committed to promoting fairness", but while high earners may be hit by the bonus tax and tax tweaks to pension contributions, it's the rest of us – particularly older people and honest workers – who will be hit hardest by Mr Darling's new measures.

Pensioners could be left out in the cold

The boiler scrappage scheme is a sound proposal. Old boilers are dangerous and bad for the environment. Handing over £400 to help people cover the cost of replacing an inefficient boiler – rated "G" or worse – will benefit us all.

For those paying huge energy bills because of an old boiler, the cost of a new one can be quickly outweighed by the savings generated by increased efficiency. Installing a new, efficient boiler can save up to £235 a year on heating bills, according to one estimate.

So what's the beef about the new green boiler scheme? Simply this – it should be available to all who need it, particularly poorer families and vulnerable groups who would really notice the difference financially, as well as ending up with a safer home. The Government has said some 125,000 homes could apply for the scheme, but once the £50m earmarked for it is used up, that will be that.

As a result, the scheme may not end up benefiting the really needy as only those that get their requests in quickly will gain. Losing out, I suspect, will be many pensioners, who were left out in the cold once again yesterday with no increase in the warm weather payment.

The Chancellor may not have noticed 37,313 older people died from cold-related illnesses last year, while galloping fuel costs have left one in three pensioners spending more than 10 per cent of their income on energy bills. These people desperately need more help and the £2.40 weekly rise in the state pension from next April will do little to alleviate their pressing financial problems.