Sixty of Britain’s richest people collectively contribute more than £3bn a year in income tax, the BBC has learnt.
The amount of income tax paid is roughly equivalent to around two-thirds of all of Labour’s additional spending commitments in its manifesto earlier this year.
Every 60 individuals have an income of at least £50m a year in 2021/22, but many will earn more and may pay more tax.
There is concern that tax increases in this month’s budget can get out of the super-rich, hurting British finances. Labor has rejected income tax changes, but Chancellor Rachel Reeves has left the door open to more tax rises.
A Treasury spokesman said the government was committed to “tackling unfairness in the tax system”.
Swiss banking giant UBS predicted in July that the UK would lose half its millionaires by 2028, partly due to some shifting to low-tax countries.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the Treasury should be aware that even a small number of this super-rich group leaving the country would leave a “relatively large hole in its finances”.
But the Green Party insists its demands to tax the rich will cause them to leave Britain unconvinced.
BBC reported last month about the concerns in the Finance that one of the main fundraisers to promise that, scrapping of non-dom schemawill raise money far less than the first hope.
Abolishing the scheme, which allows British citizens to be registered abroad for tax purposes, was initially thought to cost £1bn.
Government ministers also said the previous Conservative government had left a £22bn “black hole” in the public finances.
This led to discussions in government about potential tax increases in the upcoming Budget and in August, the chancellor refused to introduce a capital gains tax increase.
Stuart Adam, senior economist at the IFS, said reports of wealthy people leaving the UK were now anecdotal.
But he warned that it would not take a mass exodus to cause problems for public finances, because “tax payments are concentrated in a few people”.
“Obviously there are risks that Rachel Reeves has to think about,” Mr Adam said.
“Some of the tax changes that have been speculated are very concentrated at the top of the income distribution.”
There may be “more in the stock of these people than just the income tax they are paying” as the individual in question will likely pay a large amount in other forms of taxation such as capital gains, Mr. Adam added.
Green Party leader Carla Denyer warned against taking threats from the super-rich to leave the country seriously.
“This did not happen during the change of non-dom status in 2017,” he said.
“There are many reasons for wealthy people to choose to live in the UK, including work, family and culture, and many are happy to pay more if it means a happier and healthier society.”
The figures, compiled by HMRC, have been obtained through Freedom of Information legislation and relate to 2021/22, the most recent year for which data is available.
In that year, the UK had income tax receipts totaling £225bn, with contributions from around 33 million taxpayers.
Over 60 people with an income of more than £50m comprise only 0.0002% of UK taxpayers and together pay 1.4% of their income tax receipts.
HMRC initially blocked the release of the information on the grounds that disclosing the figures would identify the individuals in question.
But the authorities agreed to release the data after further requests by the BBC.
The IFS said the way to stop the rich from leaving the UK is to introduce an “exit tax”.
Some other countries “say that if you leave the UK, we will tax you on the income that has accrued while you are here, even if you don’t sell the asset until later”, Mr. Adam said.
“And symmetrically, we will release people who made a profit before they came to the UK, even if they sold their assets while they were here.”
A Treasury spokesman said: “We are tackling unfairness in the tax system to raise revenue to rebuild public services.
“That’s why we’re removing our outdated non-dom tax regime and replacing it with an internationally competitive home-based regime focused on attracting the best talent and investment to the UK.”
