Some of the biggest names in UK business have been included on the 2023 Sunday Times tax list which is published today.
The list of the UKJ’s top 100 taxpayers includes the owners of Betfred, retail giant Frasers Group, Dunelm and Triumph Motorcycles.
And as Tory cabinet member Nadhim Zahawi remains embroiled in controversy over his own multi-million pound tax affairs, one of the people on the list said he couldn’t be prouder to be contributing to public services.
Gymshark chief executive Ben Francis is the youngest person to appear on the list, and paid £11.6 million to the taxman.
He said: “This country and its taxes afforded me a free education, free healthcare and, as the child of a nurse, it also paid my mum’s salary.
“I’m nothing but proud that we contribute in every way that we can.”
The Sunday Times list said between them 100 mega-wealthy individuals and families contributed almost £5.2 billion in tax in the UK last year.
Denise, John and Peter Coates – who own Bet365 and Stoke City Football Club and paid £460.2 million – have been overtaken after three years in the top spot by Moscow-born Alex Gerko.
Mr Gerko, a mathematician who has spoken out against Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, was the UK’s biggest taxpayer, giving £487.4 million to the Exchequer last year.
In fact almost £1 in every £10 paid by those on the list came from Mr Gerko, who set up XTX Markets in 2015 and is co-chief executive of the trading business. He renounced his Russian citizenship at the end of 2022.
Robert Watts, who compiled the list, said: “Alex Gerko’s story is an extraordinary read. This was a man who could have been one of Russia’s greatest wealth creators — instead he is creating jobs and paying his tax here.
“Enticing the super-rich to London doesn’t always pay dividends for the public finances. In his case it certainly has.”
In third place on the list is Mike Ashley, the majority shareholder of Derbyshire-based Frasers Group, followed by Weatherspoons boss Tim Martin.
