Britain’s biggest taxpayers revealed: Bet365 boss Denise Coates tops list for second year in a row

Gambling mogul Denise Coates was Britain’s biggest taxpayer for the second year running, according to the annual ranking of contributors to the public purse.

The Bet365 founder and her family, who are worth £7.166bn, stumped up an eye-watering £573million tax bill.  

Glenn Gordon, whose distillery empire has netted his family a £3.186bn fortune, came in second with tax liabilities of £436.4million. 

Sir James Dyson also featured on the Sunday Times Tax List 2021 in sixth place after pouring £115million into the Treasury coffers – £12million more than the year before.

The Brexiteer vacuum tycoon, who topped the 2020 rich list with his £16.2billion fortune, announced he was relocating Dyson’s head office to Singapore in 2019.

Celebrities including JK Rowling and Ed Sheeran were also ranked in the top 50 taxpayers, who on average paid less than the year before.

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The list, which mostly covers business and personal tax exposure to the end of 2019, shows the amount of tax taken from Britain’s super-rich fell sharply even before the Covid-19 pandemic took hold.

The wealthy needed to contribute £13.1million to make it into the top 50 of this year’s list, down from £20.4million the year before, a 36 per cent drop.  

Harry Potter author Rowling fell from 19th to 23rd in this year’s rankings, with her tax liabilities dropping from £48.6million to £34.8million.

It comes as the world-famous writer’s earnings dropped from an estimated £100 million last year to £72.5million as theatres and theme parks closed. 

Sheeran is the most high-profile new entry to the tax list, ranking 32nd with tax payments of £28.2million.

Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley climbed one place in the rankings to 12th, despite his tax liabilities dropping by £8.8million to £46million.

Meanwhile, Sir Philip Green dropped out of the top 50 list as his Arcadia retail empire fell into administration.

Sir Philip and his wife Lady Tina Green were ranked 23rd in last year’s list with a tax liability of £44.4million.

The list’s top 50 wealthy individuals or families were liable for around £3.18billion of tax this year, up 27 per cent from £2.5billion last year.

But this is due to tax paid on £982.5million of dividends to shareholders in the William Grant whisky conglomerate, and a change in the list’s methodology, which now counts gambling duties paid by betting businesses.

Without these two factors, this year’s total tax liability of the top 50 would be £700 million less, and below last year’s figure of £2.5billion. 

Robert Watts, compiler of the tax list, said: ‘These worrying numbers show the tax taken from many of Britain’s super-rich has fallen sharply, largely because their businesses have seen a downturn.’

Institute for Public Policy Research executive director Carys Roberts said the UK tax system was ‘no longer fit for purpose’.

She said: ‘Last year’s rich list identified the UK’s 10 richest people and families, yet only two of them are listed among the 10 who paid most taxes in the last financial year.

‘These glaring gaps show that our current tax system is no longer fit for purpose, it’s just too easy for some of the UK’s richest people to avoid paying taxes in the way that most ordinary families have to.’

The annual survey examines the taxes due on business profits, share sales, dividend income, and, where known, personal income through salaries.