Anthony Joshua, JK Rowling and Mo Salah have been named among the UK’s 100 biggest taxpayers.
The billionaire brothers behind gambling giant Betfred topped the rankings of The Sunday Times Tax List 2026 for the first time, surpassing musicians, entrepreneurs and sports stars.
Fred and Peter Done, who founded the Warrington-based business in 1967, paid out an estimated £400.1m in tax over the past year, according to the annual list.
It came after their tax bill climbed by almost half from £273.4m a year earlier.
JK Rowling. Pic: Reuters
Financial trading entrepreneur Alex Gerko ranked second on the list with £331.4m in tax, followed by hedge fund boss Chris Rokos, who paid £330m.
Elsewhere, Harry Styles was among the new entries to the list, in 54th place, paying £24.7m in tax.
The former One Direction member-turned-solo artist is set to release his fourth studio album in March.
Read more from Sky News:
Riz Ahmed hopes his ‘visceral’ Hamlet will be shown in schools
Yellow warning for parts of England already hit by severe rain
Billionaire businessman Mike Ashley ranked ninth on the list, with a contribution of £175m in tax, while entrepreneur Sir James Dyson and Nik Storonsky, a co-founder of the payments firm Revolut, also featured.
Erling Haaland at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester, in November last year. Pic: PA
Two footballers also joined the list for the first time, with Manchester City’s Erling Haaland appearing in 72nd place with an estimated tax payment of £16.9m and Liverpool’s Salah believed to have a bill of £14.5m, in 81st place.
Haaland, 25, is the youngest person to appear in the tax list.
Harry Potter author Rowling ranked 36th on the list with a bill of £47.5m, and musician Ed Sheeran 64th, with a £19.9m tax payment. Boxer Anthony Joshua ranked 100th, paying £11m.
Wetherspoons founder Sir Tim Martin, 70, ranked eighth in the list with a personal contribution of £199.7m.
The list showed that the top 100 taxpayers handed over a total of £5.758bn worth of tax, up from £4.985bn a year earlier.
Anthony Joshua. Pic: Reuters
Many on the list, including the Done brothers, paid more tax after changes to corporation tax rates and other taxes by the government in a bid to support higher welfare spending.
Robert Watts, who compiled the list, said: “This is an increasingly diverse list, with Premier League footballers and world famous pop stars lining up alongside aristocrats and business owners selling pies, pillows and baby milk.
“This year there’s been a big jump in the amount of tax we’ve identified – largely because of higher corporation tax rates.”
Six taxpayers feature on the list despite leaving the UK over the past year, amid reports of wealthy individuals moving to avoid higher taxes under Labour, or due to non-dom status being removed.
These included Wren Kitchens founder Malcolm Healey and sports promoter Eddie Hearn.
