Britain may face an exodus of rich individuals overseas

Britain’s one million top-earners now pay more than two-fifths of all income tax, official figures showed.

Last night Rachel Reeves faced fresh warnings that targeting this wealthy cohort could backfire as data shows 1.13million top-rate payers will add £124billion to Treasury coffers this year.

They pay a 45 per cent rate on taxable earnings over £125,140 a year and will contribute an average of £110,000 each this financial year.

The Chancellor plans to clamp down on non-doms and other high-earners in her Budget this month to fix a ‘£22billion black hole’ in the public finances.

Ministers expect to bring in £301billion in income tax for the 2024-25 financial year. The next tier are 6.3million higher-rate income taxpayers handing over 40 per cent, who will contribute £93.7billion in the current financial year. 

There are 29.5million Britons paying the basic 20 per cent rate of income tax, who are set to pay £82.8billion in 2024-25. 

The figures from HM Revenue & Customs come after Sir Keir Starmer said those with the ‘broadest shoulders’ will bear the heaviest burden.

But experts have warned that many of Britain’s wealthiest people could move abroad to avoid a raid on their hard-earned cash, cutting the amount of income tax collected.

Shimeon Lee, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Public services are utterly dependent on the tax paid by the top one per cent, meaning the government’s assault on the affluent could end up doing extraordinary damage. 

Rachel Reeves should ditch the politics of jealousy.’

Figures issued by HM Revenue & Customs show there are 1.13million people in the 45p rate band.

The numbers on the additional rate have soared after the threshold was reduced to £125,000

Many more are likely to be drawn into the band over the coming years, as the thresholds have been frozen.

People in the top 1 per cent of incomes – a slightly different measure – are expected to make up 28.2 per cent of income tax receipts this year.  

The burden on the wealthier was highlighted as Chancellor Rachel Reeves draws up a ‘painful’ Budget.

Although Labour has committed to holding the main rates of income tax, NICs and VAT, there are fears the government will mounts raids on capital gains and inheritance tax. Keir Starmer has vowed to protect ‘working people’.     

Carl Emmerson, deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), told the Telegraph that focusing tax raids on small numbers of people was ‘risky’.

HMRC figures show how the income tax contribution varies as earnings increase

People in the top 1 per cent of incomes – a slightly different measure – are expected to make up 28.2 per cent of income tax receipts this year

‘If you can get the revenue, it might be nice to have. But the problem is, if you’re hitting a really small number of people for quite a lot of tax each, what happens if they change their behaviour?’ he said.

‘If you put a penny on income tax, you’re taxing loads of people by a small amount. And most people, I would suggest, will just go to work and do exactly what they would have done anyway.

‘I don’t think many people would choose to work fewer hours each week, or not bother to take a more highly paid job, or change the country where they live. 

‘If, on the other hand, you’re trying to get a huge amount of money from a small number of people, I would just worry more about how much you’re hitting them or whether they might change their behaviour.’