A quarter of all of Britain's income tax revenues this year will be paid by just one per cent of earners, according to official data.

　　The figure is in sharp contrast to 1978, an era associated with supertaxes, when the top one per cent paid 11 per cent of all the tax revenues.

　　Experts suggested the projections, published by HM Revenue and Customs, was evidence of how the rich had got richer over the last three decades, while the tax burden on them had increased substantially in recent years.

　　The new top rate of 50p income tax rate came into force in April 2010, landing a small number of people with the highest rate of income tax since 1988.

　　It is not yet fully clear how much money this top rate of tax, introduced by the former Labour government, will raise. However, last week the HMRC published its forecasts for all income tax revenues for the current tax year. It suggested that 275,000 individual, those that will pay the 50p rate, will pay ā41.4 billion in tax – 25.7 per cent of the country's total income tax bill.

　　In total there is expected to be 30.6 million taxpayers this tax year.

　　In 2008-2009 it took 648,000 of the richest taxpayers to pay a quarter of the country's income tax revenues.

　　John Whiting, the Tax Policy Director of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, said: "The rich are getting proportionatelyricher, and therefore are paying more tax.

　　"In a curiousway it demonstrates what a contribution they make. It is well worth the country attempting to keep them here. In trading terms, they make a considerable profit for the taxman."

　　There have been fears in the Citythat the 50p tax rate would drive out many businessmen from London. Though some hedge funds have relocated to Switzerland there is no evidence of companies or individuals relocating offshore in substantial numbers.

　　官方数据显示，今年英国四分之一的所得税收入将来自于1%的纳税人。

　　该数据与1978年的数据形成了强烈的反差。1978年英国实行附加税制，最富有的1%的人所缴纳的税收只占全部税收的11%。

　　专家们认为，英国税务海关总署发布的预测显示了在过去三十年中富人变得更富，同时他们的课税负担近年来也有了大幅增长。

　　最新的所得税最高税率（50%）是于2010年4月开始施行的，该税率使得一小部分人不得不应对自1988年以来的最高个税税率。

　　这一最高税率是由前工党政府推行的，目前还不是很清楚该税率能为政府筹到多少钱。但是上周英国税务海关总署发布的对本纳税年度所得税收入的预测显示，共有27.5万人将按最高税率缴税，税费可达414亿英镑，占英国全部所得税收入的25.7%。

　　预计本纳税年度共有3060万纳税人。

　　在2008-2009年度，同一比例（1/4）的所得税收入由64.8万名最富有的纳税人缴纳。

　　英国特许税务师工会的税收政策主管约翰怀廷说：“相对来说富人变得更富了，所以支付的税费也更多。”

　　“税费以一种特殊的方式展示了富人们对社会所做的贡献。国家努力把这些人留住是非常值得的。用贸易术语来说，这些人为税务机关带来了十分可观的利润。”

　　伦敦金融城内有人担心50%的税率会迫使很多商人离开伦敦。但是目前除了一些迁到瑞士的对冲基金公司之外，并没有迹象显示大批公司或个人打算离境迁往别处。

　　Vocabulary:

　　supertax: an additional tax on something already taxed（附加税）

　　projection: an estimate or a statement of what figures, amounts, or events will be in the future, or what they were in the past, based on what is happening now（预测；推断；设想）

　　proportionately: 成比例地；相应地

　　curious: strange and unusual（奇特的；不寻常的）

　　the City: Britain's financial and business centre, in the oldest part of London （伦敦最古老的金融商务中心）伦敦商业区，伦敦城