Budget 2016: George Osborne reveals richest one per cent of taxpayers paid 28 per cent of income tax in 2013/14
A higher proportion of income tax came from the richest one per cent of taxpayers in 2013/14 than in any other year over the last two decades, chancellor George Osborne said today.
In his Budget, published today, Osborne highlighted figures from HMRC showing that those in the highest income tax band contributed 28 per cent of the total amount collected.
According to HMRC’s Personal Income Statistics 2013/14, around 300,000 additional rate taxpayers – representing the one per cent – paid £46bn of tax. This was in the year the top rate of tax was reduced from 50p to 45p.
Read more: Osborne: Getting rid of 50p rate raised £8bn for the Treasury
HMRC statistics show that basic rate taxpayers – representing 24.9m people – paid £56.2bn in 2013/14. This was 34 per cent of the total, according to HMRC.
And the 4.2m higher rate taxpayers – representing 14 per cent of income taxpayers – accounted for £61.4bn, or 37 per cent, of income tax.
Osborne also pointed to figures earlier this month showing that the lowering of the top rate of income tax from 50p to 45p in 2013/14 had raised an additional £8bn.
"Under this government the richest pay a higher proportion of income tax than under the last Labour government," Osborne told MPs. "Indeed we have just had numbers out this morning from HMRC which for the first time show the income tax data for the year 2013/14, which is when the 50p rate was reduced to 45p.
"And what that shows is that actually there was an £8bn increase in revenues from additional rate taxpayers, which completely defies the predictions made by the Labour party at the time and shows that what we have are lower, competitive taxes that are paid by all."
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