The billionaire brothers behind Betfred have topped the Sunday Times 2026 tax list after paying an estimated £400.1 million to the UK Treasury, making them the country’s biggest individual taxpayers.
Fred and Peter Done, founders of the betting empire, took top spot in the annual rankings, with around half of their contribution linked to gambling levies from the nationwide betting shop chain Betfred.
The list, now in its eighth year, highlights the level of tax paid by Britain’s richest businessmen and celebrities, even as concerns grow about a steady exodus of wealthy individuals abroad.
Pub tycoon Tim Martin came eighth with a personal tax contribution of almost £200 million. His company, JD Wetherspoon, runs 794 pubs and paid a total of £837.1 million in tax last year, an average of more than £1 million per pub from corporation tax, VAT, business rates and gambling levies.
Martin, who owns 26.7% of the group, said he had no complaints about his personal tax bill and described taxation as a political decision by voters rather than a personal grievance.
Other leading contributors to the top ten included financiers Alex Gerko, Chris Rokos and Peter Hargreaves, as well as retail bigwigs such as Mike Ashley of Sports Direct, Tom Morris of Home Bargains, the Perkins family behind Specsavers and Stephen Rubin, a major shareholder in JD Sports and owner of Speedo.
Among public figures, Harry Styles was the 54th highest-contributing celebrity overall, with an estimated tax bill of £24.7 million. Most of his contribution comes from touring and merchandise income, which he generates through his company Erskine Records.
He finished ahead of fellow singer Ed Sheeran, who paid almost £20 million in tax after receiving a £41 million dividend last year.
At number 72 on the list, Erling Haaland became the youngest participant. The Manchester City striker, whose weekly earnings before bonuses and image rights tops £500,000, is estimated to have paid £16.9m in UK taxes.
Other notable names included JK Rowling, the Timpson family, Dyson founder James Dyson and Douglas and Iain Anderson from the GAP Group, which provides infrastructure for festivals and major events.
The 2026 list coincides with what the Sunday Times describes as a continuing exodus of wealthy individuals from the UK. Fourteen of the people featured are now based abroad, some in Monaco, Jersey, Guernsey, Portugal, Cyprus, Dubai and the United States.
Despite this trend, 78-year-old Peter Done said he has no intention of leaving Britain. “We owe this country something,” he told the newspaper, adding that successful entrepreneurs have a responsibility to pay taxes where their wealth was created.
According to HMRC data, the top 1% of working people in the UK – those earning more than £219,000 before tax – currently contribute around 26.6% of all income tax revenue. Although still significant, this share has fallen from 30.7% in 2021-22, partly due to frozen income tax thresholds and the migration of some high earners abroad.
The Sunday Times tax list is compiled from the latest company accounts filed up to January 10 and covers a wide range of levies, from corporation and dividend tax to capital gains and income tax, and industry-specific levies such as gambling and alcohol tax.
