The UK's wealthiest citizens are set to pay more than 60% of the country's income tax burden this year, despite representing only 14% of taxpayers, according to analysis of data released by HMRC.

The latest figures show the number of people in the higher or top-rate tax brackets is expected to go up from 3.25m in 2010-11 to 4.13m. They will account for 13.8% of all taxpayers, while their share of the total tax bill will increase 54.2% to 61.3%.

At the same time, there will be a drop in overall taxpayer numbers as a result of increases in the personal allowance, with numbers expected to decline by 1.4m to 29.9m this year.

Based on these assumptions, those earning more than £150,000 a year, will pay about £42bn in income tax, or around a quarter of the total tax take. Some 4,000 taxpayers earning more than £2m will pay £7bn in income tax this year, or 4.4% of the total.