Sunday Telegraph: DARLING GIVES US ALL ROAD RAGE The Chancellor has accelerated his drive to raise taxes on the most polluting cars - and company car drivers as well as large families will feel the pain. Paul Farrow and Emma Simon investigate

Rises in car tax will hit nine out of 10 motorists, with Britain's 1m company car drivers seeing their income tax bills increase over the next three years.

It is not just the drivers of polluting gas-guzzlers who will pay more following Alistair Darling's first Budget, new figures show. The raft of changes will have far more effect on the pockets of ordinary motorists.

The Chancellor's decision to slap a "showroom tax'' of up to pounds 950 on the most polluting cars has been lambasted as an environmental smokescreen designed simply to pull in additional revenue for the Government.

Company car drivers could be hundreds of pounds worse off too, and will see their take-home pay reduced unless they switch to a smaller, greener car. This is because the percentages used to calculate the benefit of having a company car will increase in 2008/09 and again in 2010/11 for all but the cleanest cars.

So those driving family saloons or higher-performance cars will find that more tax is taken from their salary through their payroll.

"The only company car drivers to avoid these increases are those driving cars with CO2 emissions under 130g/km who do not have private fuel provided,'' says Mike Warburton of Grant Thornton, the accountancy firm.

It is not just the notional value of a company car that has changed in the Budget. If fuel for private motoring is supplied along with the car, there will be tax increases in 2008/09 and 2009/10, with promises of more in subsequent years. The fixed figure on which the fuel benefits charge is calculated will rise from pounds 14,400 to pounds 16,900.

This means, for example, a higher-rate taxpayer driving a two-litre Ford Focus C-Max could pay pounds 1,868 under the current rates but pounds 1,932 from April, an additional pounds 64 But with the private fuel tax benefit increase, they will pay an extra pounds 358.

In light of such changes, the Chancellor's decision to postpone the 2p rise in fuel tax until October looks like a poor sop to the beleaguered motorist.

The moves come on top of changes to vehicle excise duty that will see millions of motorists pay more for their road tax (officially known as vehicle excise duty or VED).

This additional expense comes as millions of Britons face higher food, energy and mortgage bills and an increase in National Insurance contributions.

George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, says: "Darling's changes will hit millions of motorists driving ordinary family cars. A family driving a Ford Mondeo or Volvo V70 estate will see their total car tax payments rise by more than 30 per cent over the next three years. When Darling's new first-year VED rates are introduced, ordinary families will pay even more: a family buying a Citroen Picasso in 2010 would pay car taxes that are almost double today's levels.''

The Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) adds: "Introducing what is effectively a sales tax for many new cars is a retrograde step. Trying to force people out of high-value cars has no environmental merit and will be seen as a smokescreen for revenue raising.''

Research by the TaxPayers' Alliance also backs up Osborne's claims. It says that over the next two years millions of drivers will face soaring bills as road tax on some popular family models doubles, and that tax on 88 per cent of models will rise. Only 9 per cent of vehicles will benefit from the new system.

The main change has been to introduce six new road tax bands. So from 2009/10 cars will be divided into 13 groups (A-M) for road tax purposes, according to their CO2 emissions. At present there are seven bands, with the least green vehicles paying pounds 400. Some family cars will move up several bands, with the worst-polluting cars, such as Jaguars, Range Rovers and some people carriers, paying pounds 440 next year, then pounds 455 in 2010/11. Cars that emit more than 255g of CO2 per kilometre will fall into this category.

But those driving smaller cars will see bigger tax rises. For example, anyone with a two-litre Ford Mondeo currently pays pounds 170 a year. This will rise to pounds 260 next year and pounds 270 the year after.

Family motorists appear to be the biggest losers, with some of Britain's most popular cars facing the biggest tax rises. The tax on a Vauxhall Astra 2.0i 16v or Saab 9-3 MY2008 will more than double over the next two years from pounds 210 to pounds 430. Likewise, the owner of a Ford Focus 1.6 Duratec will pay 59 per cent more ( pounds 170 to pounds 270), while the tax on a Citroen Xsara Picasso will rise by 48 per cent to pounds 310.

In contrast, over the past five years the duty on these vehicles has risen by just 30 per cent. Even drivers of Nissan Micras face a 24 per cent tax rise - from pounds 145 to pounds 180. This compares with 16 per cent over the past five years. Cars producing less than 100g will not be taxed at all.

These changes relate to the "standard tax'' paid on all existing or second-hand cars. But the biggest change will be the new "showroom tax'', which will be paid on many news cars from 2010/11. Anyone buying a car that emits more than 160g of CO2 from this date will pay a far higher VED in the first year.

Buyers of Volkswagen Touaregs, Audi A6s and A8s and Volvo V70s - all of which fall into the worst-polluting category - will be stung for pounds 950 in road tax in the first year. Cars in the next band - attracting road tax of pounds 750 - include Vauxhall Vectras, Mercedes M and E class estates and Mitsubishi Shoguns.

But Mondeo man too will pay this additional tax. Those buying a new two-litre Mondeo from April 2010 will pay tax of pounds 425 in the first year, falling back to the "standard'' pounds 270 thereafter.

The SMMT reckons that more than two-thirds of new cars are at or above the new band G and will attract more tax. Only 3.8 per cent of new cars are in the new top band M. "Middle-class motorists are being unfairly hammered. Hard-working families are now beginning to see this for what it is: a cloak of green taxes,'' says Nigel Wonnacott of the SMMT.

"Families who need larger cars will be hit hardest by the changes. It's a tax on having children. It's a tax on those who tow caravans. It's a tax on farmers and others who need off-roaders. We know it, the Chancellor knows it, and increasingly the public are getting the message.''