The UK government's plan to cut the top rate of tax is an exception to a global trend of an upward rise of tax for the highest earners.

Research by KPMG has found that the average top rate of personal income tax has increased by 0.3% globally, even though closer to home the government is set to drop the 50p rate by 5p next April.

Even before the cut in the top band, the firm's analysis shows that the UK has fallen from fourth to fifth in ranking of EU countries with the highest top rate. The Swedish retain the top spot (56.6%), with Denmark (55.4%) just behind and the Netherlands (52%) in third.

'In large part, this upward tick in personal tax rates is the result of a lack of economic recovery and increasing debt concerns,' said Brad Maxwell, a partner with KPMG's International Executive Services practice in Switzerland. 'Many economies deemed it necessary to increase their highest rate of personal income tax through one of two approaches: either through the creation of new income tax rate bands for very high income earners, or through the introduction of temporary taxes to address immediate budgetary deficit concerns,' adds Maxwell.

France and Spain have provided the most prominent examples of such tax policies. French president Francois Hollande, for instance, intends to introduce a new 75% top rate for earners of more than €1m (£804,137) and has already raised the current highest tax rate from 41% to 45% on incomes above €250,000.

In Spain, a 'complimentary tax' ranging from 0.7 to 7.5% - depending on the individual's level of income - will effectively see the top rate taxpayer having 52% deducted from their earnings, rather than 45% previously.

At 45 percent, the UK will be closer to the EU average which, on a purely arithmetical basis, is just over 37% and, if weighted for the different size of populations in the various countries, is 42%, according to KPMG's calculations and Eurostat data.