High earners 'dodge top-rate tax' with £5bn income shift

The top rate of tax for people earning above £150,000 dropped from 50p to 45p on Saturday. The paper said  the movement of funds from one tax year to the next would cost the exchequer about £200m. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) originally projected high earners would shift £6.2bn of income from 2012-13 into 2013-14 by delaying dividends and bonuses. In last month's Budget it revised that down by £1.4bn because of lower pay and bonuses, the report said. However, accountant Grant Thornton said it expected the amount of income shifted would be higher than the original estimate ...