The figures may fuel anxiety that the super-rich would flee a tax-raising government led by Jeremy Corbyn

One-fifth of all income and capital gains tax is paid by just 100,000 of Britain’s top earners, new figures reveal, underlining the taxman’s reliance on a few very wealthy citizens.

This group — comprising only 0.15% of the population — pays a total of £35.1bn in these two taxes, roughly equal to the government’s annual defence budget, figures from HM Revenue & Customs show.

The 100 richest taxpayers pay an average of £18m each, or just over 1% of total income and capital gains tax receipts.

The top 100,000 earners pay 20% of all income and capital gains tax

The figures, obtained from HMRC by a Freedom of Information request, are likely to fuel anxiety that the threat of a tax-raising Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn could prompt an exodus of the super-rich from Britain. Wealth managers