The Sunday Times Tax List, the annual roll‑call of the UK’s biggest taxpayers, just landed. Collectively the top 5 tax contributors — including Fred and Peter Done and Alex Gerko — is equivalent to 10,000 NHS nurses for a year, 6,144 HMRC tax specialists, 27,562 state pensions, training for 10,503 new teachers and nearly 2,000 new electric buses. That’s why they, and everyone who pays their taxes, should feel proud of their contributions, because it’s how we heal our loved ones, care for our elders, educate our children and keep the country running.
But, the tax list also raises some awkward questions. Why are only 100 people paying more than £11m in tax when the UK has 156 billionaires? Why are there some individuals worth over £10billion nowhere to be seen? And why does Ed Sheeran make the list every year?
Where are all the Billionaires?
It’s not simply that every super‑rich person is dodging tax — though offshore schemes cost the UK an estimated £12.5billion a year. But the deeper issue is structural: our tax system is designed so that the super-rich don’t pay their fair share. That’s because work is taxed more than wealth.
The taxes people like you and me pay will typically be on our income from work or pensions, in our everyday purchases and maybe on some bank interest or investments in an ISA. The tax on our income typically being the highest, and by and large, this makes sense.
But for the very richest in the UK, it’s a different, confusing story. Over the last few decades, wealth has been amassed in extreme amounts by a small number of people. While the rest of us have struggled to get by, have cut back on essentials and felt the pinch when bills rise, the super-rich have continued to get richer. One of the reasons being; they’re paying far less tax on their income which is predominantly from their existing wealth, than they would if it came from work. When extreme hoarded wealth compounds untouched, year after year, the result is runaway inequality.
Now, imagine a modest 2% annual tax on wealth over £10m. Every UK billionaire would contribute at least £19.8m a year in tax — meaning they’d all appear on the Tax List, as they should. And because billionaire wealth in the UK grows by around 16% a year on average, they’d still be getting richer, fast. Some would argue most wouldn’t even feel it, and they could pay more.
This imbalance also explains why celebrities, musicians, actors and athletes feature so prominently on the Tax List but barely appear on the Rich List. This year Ed Sheeran, Anthony Joshua, Erling Haaland, Mo Salah and Harry Styles all made the top 100 tax payers. They’re among the highest earners because their income comes from work, not wealth: album sales, prize money, club wages and sponsorships, all taxed far more heavily than the returns on vast fortunes.
Who’s in and who’s out?
This year’s list reveals something else: one in nine of the top taxpayers live abroad (many in low‑tax jurisdictions). Whilst the billionaire-owned press will likely use this to continue their hysteric discrediting of plans to tax the super-rich fairly. This actually makes clear that the idea that the super‑rich will all flee and take their money with them, is nonsense. Even if some greedy individuals leave, they can’t take their UK‑based assets, properties or businesses with them, and so will still continue to pay a lot of tax in the UK.
Meanwhile, one of the latest high-profile departures has quietly reversed course. Last year as we covered at the time, Nikolay Storonsky, the billionaire CEO of Revolut, moved his tax residency to Dubai — widely seen as a way to avoid capital gains tax ahead of Revolut’s entrance on the stock market (set to make him billions). Well, now he’s back. Most observers think it’s because it will make it easier for him to secure an important UK banking licence for his business.
The logic is obvious: if you want to run a major financial institution, you need what the UK offers — regulatory credibility, legal stability, world‑class talent and a trusted market. Those things exist because we invest in them. And to access them, you pay taxes. Storonsky has decided that trade‑off is worth it. Many others will too.
Most people, including the wealthy, care about more than their tax bill, they care about high-functioning public services, stable institutions and enriching environments where their businesses and families can thrive, and enjoy life.
The short‑sighted idea that the only way to make the UK “attractive” is to slash taxes, hollow out public services for private profit, torch workers’ rights and sell Britain as a bargain‑basement labour market has to end. That’s not competitiveness. It’s desperation.
So is the belief that the mega‑rich, especially the small minority who refuse to contribute to the country’s health and growth, are the only people worth attracting or keeping.
In reality, the government can make the UK appealing to the people we actually need: wealthy‑creators and community‑builders, from builders to business owners and nurses to entrepreneurs, that are happy to pay their fair share. The way to do that is by ensuring a stable, sustainable, well‑regulated and fair environment — and by investing in first-class education, affordable public transport and housing that doesn’t leave you broke at the end of the month..
The Tax List makes two things clear: many wealthy people are proud to contribute, and our system still lets too many off the hook. With the right choices, we can change that — and build a country where success comes with responsibility, and where everyone invests in a future that works for all of us.