The Treasury said it took £11.5bn in income tax in April, a 10% increase on the same month last year, reports the Telegraph.

At Budget 2012, the Chancellor George Osborne confirmed the 50% top rate of income tax would be cut by 5p in the pound from April 2013.

The coalition claimed the 50p rate introduced by Gordon Brown had not sufficiently boosted income tax receipts.

Labour has consistently criticised the move, claiming it could save millionaires an average of £100,000. Last month, Ed Balls said the government had “no evidence” to support its claim that the 50p rate was not raising revenue.

Despite the rise, economists suggested the figures may be skewed by attempts by the highest earners last year to take advantage of the lower rate.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ Rowena Crawford said: “Receipts in April will have been boosted by high-income individuals shifting income such as bonuses and special dividends from 2012-13 to 2013-14 in anticipation of the fall in the top rate of income tax.”