Ed Sheeran and JK Rowling among UK’s highest tax payers
A list of the UK’s highest tax payers has been shared, including famous faces such as Ed Sheeran and JK Rowling.
As shared by The Sunday Times, the list includes the Top 100 people to have paid the most in taxes over 2023 – adding a reported £5.35billion to public finances in the last 12 months.
Among those listed were Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who was placed at Number 31 in the rankings. According to the report, the author made the list having paid £40million in UK taxes last year. It has been previously reported that her net worth stands at £875million.
Ranked at one place below Rowling is pop sensation Ed Sheeran, who is listed as being in the 32nd spot and having paid more than £36million in UK taxes in 2023.
The mention of Sheeran comes after one of his tax bills was shared last October. The singer-songwriter saw his earnings hit £18.3million in 2022, marking an increase of £8.4million compared to that of the previous year (via The Mirror).
That meant that the pop titan paid most of his pay rise – £8million – in tax last year. It equates to paying a tax of £158,917 per week.
Other famous faces to feature on the list by The Sunday Times include Heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua, who is ranked 88th out of 100 on the index.
The top spot is claimed by Russian-born financial trader Alex Gerko, who paid an estimated amount of £664.5m for the 2023 financial year; an equivalent of over £1.8m each day. Former F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone was listed in second place having paid £650million in tax and penalties to HMRC to avoid facing time in jail. As reported by BBC, this comes as the 93-year-old failed to declare over £400m held in a trust in Singapore back in 2015.
Denise Coates, the boss of gambling firm Bet365, came in third place. Check out the full list here.
Sheeran opened up about his finances and taxes in 2017 during an interview with OK! Magazine.
“It is ‘earn a penny, spend a penny’ with me. As soon as it comes in, it goes out. I don’t have that much value on it. I place more value on my friends and family being OK,” he said. “A lot of my money goes to charity or to children’s hospitals near where I live. I have enough to be comfortable and the rest goes to help people.”
Back in May, Sheeran was included on the Sunday Times Rich List – alongside Harry Styles and Adele – and named as one of the UK’s richest people under the age of 35. Aged 32, he was the highest ranking out of the three musical acts and placed in the Number Seven spot with a reported fortune of £300million.
As for JK Rowling, last May her fortune rose by £25million compared to that of 2022. This is still likely to rise, however, as the writer is in talks with HBO, planning to make her Harry Potter novels into a television series.
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
