Top 1% of taxpayers pay a third of total bill

THE top 1% of taxpayers are responsible for around a third of the total collected, figures revealed yesterday.

- By Mauricio Alencar

Some 500,000 ratepayers contributed £93.8billion in income tax and capital gains tax in 2023-24, according to HMRC data.

This represented 33% of the overall figure paid. The top 100,000 paid £54.9billion and covered a fifth of total receipts, according to a Freedom of Information request obtained by the investment service Wealth Club.

It suggests the Treasury is reliant on a small portion of the population to pay for expenses, experts said.