Budget 2012: how top-rate taxpayers can defer paying 50pc tax

"What we need to ask is if the UK is a good place to nurture wealth creation, innovation and entrepreneurship? This decrease to 45p is a tiny amount and so the amount lost in taxes will hopefully also be small."

Mr King insists that we need to make the UK business environment one where people are comfortable to create wealth and somewhere that risk is rewarded.

"The way I see it is that if we nurture wealth-creating individuals, they may make more jobs and work for others – this is a good thing," he said.

"But we do have to be careful and sensitive about how we go about doing this. I don't want people to think I am saying this because I am a fat-cat, because I started from very little and put the work in."

Danny Cox at Hargreaves Lansdown said that there were a number of ways higher-rate taxpayers could defer income:

-Deferring income is easier for those who have some control over when their bonuses or dividends are paid, such as business owners. Those who don't have this control can defer interest on cash by using fixed-term savings accounts which mature in the 2013/14 tax year, saving 5pc tax.

-An offshore investment bond can be used to defer tax until the point of exit although these are normally minimum five-year investment terms. Tax isn't paid on the profits until encashment and the investor can draw 5pc of the original capital value without immediate tax charge.

-Investments subject to capital gains tax are subject to a maximum of 28pc for additional-rate taxpayers compared to 50pc income tax and therefore nil-yielding shares or funds defer tax until the point of encashment and then the rate of tax is lower.

-Taxable income can be reduced in a number of ways including sheltering cash, funds or shares in an Isa. This saves 50pc tax on cash or fixed-interest investments and 32.5pc on dividend income from shares or funds. Married couples should shift any taxable cash or investments into the name of the person who pays the lowest rate of tax. This could be cash, funds, shares or buy-to-let property.

-Pension contributions extend the basic-rate tax band and therefore can reduce the amount of additional rate paid. For example, a £1,000 contribution attracts £250 tax relief and an additional-rate taxpayer can reclaim a further £375 against their self assessment.