More than half of tax is now paid by just 5 per cent of people, The Telegraph can reveal, amid warnings that the uneven burden puts the economy at risk.

Analysis of Government figures published yesterday shows that for the first time the richest workers, estimated as those earning more than £75,300 a year, will pay just over 50 per cent of the income tax collected by the Treasury.

Experts have warned that the targeting of this “highly mobile” group is “dangerous” and could risk leaving public services underfunded. Last year Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s richest man moved to the tax haven of Monaco, although it is not known if this was driven by tax or personal reasons.

Conservative leadership candidate Jeremy Hunt said tax fairness is hugely important but that the biggest risk posed to taxpayers was Jeremy Corbyn.

He added: “I’ve set out plans to cut taxes on the wealth creators so we can reward those who start up their own businesses.

"Corbyn’s unfair plans to hike taxes on hardworking members of society - civil servants, head teachers and doctors - would do real harm to our economy. That’s why we need a Prime Minister who can beat Corbyn - and the latest polls show I am best placed to do that."

Prof. Philip Booth, a senior academic fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, a think tank, said: "A highly mobile group of people have become responsible for paying a greater and greater share of the total tax take. This is dangerous. The tax base has become too narrow.

“Allowing a small number of better-off people to shoulder the cost of public services is a risky policy, politically and economically."