Wetherspoon’s Tim Martin tops the South West tax list with a staggering bill, surpassing other local business leaders.
He’s now sitting at number eight on the Sunday Times Tax List for 2025. Last year, he was fifth, but his tax bill has shot up by nearly £3 million in just a year. Can you imagine? That’s a whopping £47 million more since 2023!
Wetherspoon is doing pretty well, too. They reported pre-tax profits of £73.9 million last year, which is a nice jump of over £30 million. With more than 900 pubs across the UK, it seems like they’re really thriving.
Now, the Specsavers couple, Dame Mary and Douglas Perkins, paid £108 million in tax, landing them at number 13. They’ve also seen a rise in their tax bill, but they’ve dropped a couple of spots on the list.
Sir James Dyson, on the other hand, has seen his tax bill drop from £156 million to £103 million. His company is cutting costs and laying off workers, which isn’t great news.
The Sunday Times has only shared the top 20 taxpayers so far, so we’re still waiting to see where other big names like Chris Dawson land. Last year, he was at number 100 with a £10 million tax bill.
We can expect more names to pop up soon, including the Scot Group from Exeter, which had a tax bill of £31.7 million last year.
John Gregory from Gregory Distribution is also on the list, with a tax liability of £12.4 million. His company has a big depot in Plymouth, so he’s making waves too.
And let’s not forget Dale Vince, the green energy guy, who might just make it into the top 100 this year.
The top spot on the Sunday Times Tax List is held by Sir Chris Hohn, who paid a staggering £339.5 million in tax. That’s like paying £930,137 every single day!
Overall, the wealthiest folks in the UK contributed nearly £5 billion in tax last year, which is actually 7% less than the year before. It’s a bit of a head-scratcher for the Treasury, as many of these companies didn’t perform as well in a sluggish economy.
