{"id":733292,"date":"2026-01-31T15:32:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T15:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/733292\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T15:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T15:32:16","slug":"jk-rowling-and-harry-styles-feature-as-billionaire-brothers-take-top-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/733292\/","title":{"rendered":"JK Rowling and Harry Styles feature as billionaire brothers take top spot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The annual Sunday Times Tax List<\/a> has revealed the UK\u2019s 100 biggest taxpayers<\/a>, with gambling magnates Fred and Peter Done of Betfred<\/a> topping the rankings for the first time, surpassing a host of musicians, entrepreneurs, and sporting icons.<\/p>\n

Celebrities<\/a> such as JK Rowling<\/a>, Mo Salah<\/a>, and Harry Styles<\/a> also featured prominently.<\/p>\n

The billionaire brothers, who established their Warrington<\/a>-based business in 1967, contributed an estimated \u00a3400.1m in tax<\/a> over the past year.<\/p>\n

This significant sum marks a near 50 per cent increase from their previous year\u2019s bill of \u00a3273.4m.<\/p>\n

Their elevated tax<\/a> payments, along with many others on the list, are attributed to changes in corporation tax<\/a> rates and other fiscal adjustments implemented by the Labour<\/a> government, aimed at bolstering welfare spending.<\/p>\n

Collectively, the top 100 taxpayers paid a staggering \u00a35.758bn in tax, a substantial rise from \u00a34.985bn recorded the previous year.<\/p>\n

Robert Watts, who compiles the list, noted its increasing diversity, stating: \u201cThis is an increasingly diverse list, with Premier League<\/a> footballers and world-famous pop stars lining up alongside aristocrats and business owners selling pies, pillows and baby milk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year there\u2019s been a big jump in the amount of tax we\u2019ve identified \u2013 largely because of higher corporation tax rates.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Betfred Betfred co-owner Fred Done topped the rankings alongside his brother (PA Wire) <\/p>\n

Beyond the Done brothers, financial trading entrepreneur Alex Gerko secured second place with a \u00a3331.4m tax contribution, closely followed by hedge fund boss Chris Rokos, who paid \u00a3330m.<\/p>\n

Among the new entries to the prestigious list was former One Direction<\/a> star Harry Styles<\/a>, whose tax payment reached \u00a324.7m.<\/p>\n

Footballing talent also made their mark, with Manchester City\u2019s Erling Haaland<\/a> debuting at number 72 with an estimated \u00a316.9m tax bill, and Liverpool\u2019s Mo Salah<\/a> contributing an estimated \u00a314.5m.<\/p>\n

Other familiar names included Harry Potter author JK Rowling<\/a>, ranked 36th with a \u00a347.5m bill, and musician Ed Sheeran<\/a>, at 64th place with a \u00a319.9m tax payment.<\/p>\n

However, the list also highlighted a growing trend of wealthy individuals departing the UK.<\/p>\n

\"Harry Harry Styles is on the Sunday Times Tax List for the first time (PA Archive) <\/p>\n

Six taxpayers featured despite having left the country over the past year, amid speculation that moves were made to avoid higher taxes under Labour<\/a> or due to the removal of non-dom status.<\/p>\n

These individuals included Revolut<\/a> founder Nik Storonsky, Wren Kitchens founder Malcolm Healey, and sports promoter Eddie Hearn.<\/p>\n

Mr Watts commented on this exodus, observing: \u201cOne in nine of the people who make the tax list are no longer listed as resident here in the UK, instead choosing to live in Morocco<\/a>, Dubai<\/a>, Switzerland<\/a>, Cyprus<\/a>, Portugal<\/a>, the United States<\/a> and the Channel Islands.<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly, the tax listers who have moved offshore are still delivering huge sums to HM Treasury<\/a> through their businesses, but the Chancellor<\/a> would no doubt be raising even more money from these people had they chosen to stay put and remain liable for personal tax here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The annual Sunday Times Tax List has revealed the UK\u2019s 100 biggest taxpayers, with gambling magnates Fred and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":733293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[78515,748,393,4884,12416,11764,886,6804,1144,217657,712,217658,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-733292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-betfred","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-harry-styles","14":"tag-jk-rowling","15":"tag-manchester-city","16":"tag-mo-salah","17":"tag-northern-ireland","18":"tag-robert-watts","19":"tag-scotland","20":"tag-tax-payment","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom","23":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115990439147216055","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}