Britain’s top 50 taxpayers handed the Treasury more than £2 billion in taxes last year.
The tax list published by The Sunday Times includes corporation tax, dividend tax, capital gains tax, income tax and payroll taxes, like national insurance.
Top of the list is betting tycoon Denise Coates and her family, who paid £276 million in taxes.
She shares the chief executive’s job of Bet365, the gambling conglomerate based in the Midlands city of Stoke-on-Trent.
Second is sportswear magnate Stephen Rubin, who runs international brands like Berghaus and Speedo. His family also have a major stake in retailer JD Sports.
Rubin forked out tax of £143.9 million.
Four families in the £100m plus tax club
Household appliance and technology guru James Dyson (£103 million) together with Carrie and Francois Perrodo (£101.3 million), bosses of global oil and gas firm Perenco, were the only others to pay more than £100 million in taxes.
Robert Watts, who compiled the list, said: “The rich are often bashed as tax avoiders and if that was always true then it wouldn’t matter when wealthy Brits leave the UK for Monaco, the Caribbean and other tax havens.
“The Tax List shows there are a significant number of these people who do contribute tens of millions of pounds a year towards the UK’s public finance each year.
“This shows that an exodus of the super-rich would leave us with weaker public services or paying more tax to fill the gap.”
Britain’s top 20 taxpayers
| Rank | Name | Business interests | Tax liability (£millions) |
| 1 | Denise Coates & family | Gambling | £276.00 |
| 2 | Stephen Rubin & family | Sportswear | £143.90 |
| 3 | Leonie Schroder & family | Finance | £116.80 |
| 4 | Sir James Dyson & family | Household & technology | £103.00 |
| 5 | Carrie & Francois Perrodo & family | Oil, gas & wine | £101.30 |
| 6 | The Weston family | Retailing | £85.00 |
| 7 | The Duke of Westminster | Property | £69.30 |
| 8 | Tom Morris & family | Discount stores | £67.40 |
| 9 | Sir Chris Hohn | Hedge fund | £58.10 |
| 10 | Lord Bamford & family | Construction equipment | £58.00 |
| 11 | Lady Philomena Clark & family | Car sales | £56.40 |
| 12 | Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou & family | Aviation | £56.30 |
| 13 | Mike Ashley | Sports & fashion | £54.80 |
| 14 | Glenn Gordon & family | Spirits | £54.20 |
| 15 | Ranjit & Baljinder Boparan & family | Food | £53.00 |
| 16 | John Bloor | Construction & property | £51.70 |
| 17 | Peter Harris & family | Hotels & caravan parks | £51.00 |
| 18 | Earl Cadogan & family | Property | £49.10 |
| 19 | JK Rowling | Novels & films | £48.60 |
| 20 | Baroness Howard de Walden & family | Property | £46.50 |
| Total tax paid: | £1,386.70 |
