Top british taxpayers unveiled including jk rowling, ed sheeran and a brexiteer

Big name celebrities such as Ed Sheeran and Harry Potter author JK Rowling are among some of the highest tax contributors in 2023, a new ranking chart has shown. The Sunday Times shone a

spotlight on the top tax payers last year, judged to have added a whopping £5.35bn to public finances in the last tax year. The list names JK Rowling, singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran and

the owner of pub chain JD Wetherspoon, Sir Tim Martin among some of the biggest contributors. More than a quarter of the 100 entries were London-based, with another eight from south-east

England. Thirteen came from the Midlands, 11 from south-west England and 10 from Scotland - where the top rate of tax will increase from 47 percent to 48 percent from April, when the new

financial year begins. Author JK Rowling ranks 31st on the list, having paid £40m in UK taxes in the past 12 months. In at 32nd is Ed Sheeran who paid more than £36m in UK tax. Wetherspoon

boss, Sir Tim Martin, was a vocal supporter of Brexit during the 2016 European Union referendum and backed Boris Johnson in the 2019 Conservative leadership contest. He was also named in the

New Year Honours list 2024 for his services to hospitality and culture. The pub-chain boss has ranked 5th on the list, having paid £167.1m in taxes up from £123.2m recorded in the previous

year. Eagle-eyed readers will be comparing the names on the 'Tax List' to those on the 'Rich List' and wondering why there are not more people who feature on both lists.

Robert Watts, the compiler of the list at the Sunday Times said this may be because people's wealth is derived from businesses not in the UK: "The UK has become a magnet to some of

the world's wealthiest people. "They enjoy the cultural life that the UK operates and its wealth managers, they don't necessarily create many businesses here and so they

probably do pay a lot of tax that they pay in other countries, and we only count tax that we are confident that is paid here in the UK." The Times also noted that after political

pressure Akshata Murty, the Prime Minister’s wife, now pays UK tax on her dividends from Infosys, an Indian IT firm co-founded by her father. The paper calculated that she is liable for tax

of about £4.8m, but the sum was too small to justify inclusion on their list, where the minimum threshold to make the list is £10m. In 2022, Ms Murty, the daughter of an Indian IT

billionaire, agreed to pay UK taxes on all her earnings after it was revealed she had "non-dom" status - meaning she did not pay UK tax on overseas income. TOP 5 UK'S LARGEST

TAXPAYERS * ALEX GERKO, £664.5M. Founder of trading company XTX Markets * BERNIE ECCLESTONE, £652.6M. Former boss of Formula 1 * DENISE, JOHN AND PETER COATES, £375.9M. Owners of gambling

company Bet365. * FRED AND PETER DONE AND FAMILY, £204.6M. Owners of gambling company Betfred. * SIR TIM MARTIN, £167.1M. Boss of pub chain JD Wetherspoon.