Only one in 16 Welsh taxpayers is paying 40 per cent tax Statistics from HM Revenue and Customs show that there were only 89,000 people in Wales who pay the 40p tax rate in 2010/11 Of that figure only 4,000 are paying the top rate of tax, which at the time was 50p in the pound. The number of higher rate taxpayers is just over a quarter of the total population of the capital, Cardiff. Forecasts from HMRC show that the overall number of higher rate taxpayers was due to increase to 108,000 last year and 117,000 in the current tax year. However over the same period the overall number of taxpayers fell from 1.4million in 2010/11 to 1.35million in 2012/13. Last night Elfyn Llwyd MP, the leader of Plaid Cymru in Westminster, said: "Historically it has always been the same - the figure is low - it is not a particularly happy situation, but that is the way that it is. Captains of industry in Wales may be residing elsewhere. It is a reflection of a failure of Governments to increase Wales" GDP." The figures show that a higher proportion of Scots - 227,000 people out of 2.67million taxpayers there - were 40 per cent taxpayers in 2010/11. Official figures show that the Welsh economy is the tenth largest of the UK's twelve regions.