LONDON (Reuters) - Tumbling tax receipts in January drove Britain's budget deficit for the fiscal year so far to a record high and statisticians warned bank bailouts could raise total debt by up to £1.5 trillion ($2.15 trillion), or 100 percent of GDP.

Public sector net borrowing stood at £67.2 billion between April 2008 and January, official figures showed yesterday.

That is the highest since records began in 1993.

Company tax receipts were down 24.1 percent on the year in January.

"January's UK public finances figures confirmed that the downturn in the economy is starting to hit the fiscal position very hard indeed," said Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics.

"Public borrowing could now total £100 billion this year before climbing much further next year."

Gilt futures fell after the data on fears that the government, already issuing a record amount of bonds this year, would have to ramp up supply even more next year.

A sale of 2012 gilts after the data, however, was heavily oversubscribed, indicating still healthy demand for UK government bonds.

The government has already forecast borrowing of £118 billion, or some eight percent of GDP, in the next fiscal year but this could be much higher, especially if Prime Minister Gordon Brown chooses to pump more money into the ailing economy in the budget on April 22.