THESE are the richest people in the UK and how much they pay in taxes, with one maths whizz footing a bill of £487million.

The highest taxpayers in Britain include betting gurus, an athleisure tycoon, JK Rowling, the boss of Wetherspoon, Sting and business leaders.

Alex Gerko paid the most tax in the UK in the past year

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Alex Gerko paid the most tax in the UK in the past yearCredit: Linkedin
One of Britain's richest men, Sir James Dyson is 12th on the list

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One of Britain’s richest men, Sir James Dyson is 12th on the listCredit: PA
Denise Coates, who runs Bet365 came in second place

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Denise Coates, who runs Bet365 came in second placeCredit: PA

Alex Gerko, 43, who runs London-based firm XTX Markets leads the annual rankings with a nine-digit tax bill just shy of half a billion.

The Moscow-born billionaire topped this year’s Sunday Times Tax List after contributing £487million in just 12 months.

An outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, Gerko recently renounced his Russian citizenship and pays around £55,639 an hour in tax.

Gerko has also said that he supports “wealth taxes” and is “very happy” to pay a big amount of money via contributions.

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After three years at the top of the tax list, Bet365 founder Denise Coates and her family take second place.

The owners of the gambling giant delivered a whopping £460.2 million to the government this past year.

While Stephen Rubin – who formerly ran unsuccessfully as an MP – and his family came in third.

Owning Speedo, Kickers and Berghaus, the billionaire businessman is also co-owner of Pentland Group.

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Another bookies also made the top five with Fred and Peter Done owning gambling powerhouse Betfred.

Billionaire inventor Sir James Dyson, who this month urged the government to cut taxes to boost economic growth, appears at No 12 this year with an identifiable tax bill of £93 million.

This is the first time his business’s annual tax contribution in the UK has dropped below £100 million since 2019.

However, Dyson has moved his headquarters from Somerset to Singapore.

Tim Martin, the Wetherspoon founder, who comes seventh in this year’s list with an estimated personal contribution of £123.2 million, said it was “vitally important” that more companies reported all the tax they paid.

Musician Sting also found himself on the Tax List for the first time after selling his back catalogue to Universal for a reported £200million.

While JK Rowling, famous for her Harry Potter series, made the list once more with a yearly tax contribution of £15million.

The youngest taxpayer in the top 100 is Ben Francis, 30, who set up the athleisure brand Gymshark.

Francis owns more than 70 per cent of the business, which paid £16 million of corporation tax and employer’s national insurance, according to its latest accounts.

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The top ten taxpayers delivered around £2.3 billion to the government — up nearly 14 per cent on a year ago, continuing the surge in £100 million-plus taxpayers.

While a total of £5.181 billion of tax was paid by the 100 entries in this year’s league table.

Famous musician Sting also made the Tax List this year

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Famous musician Sting also made the Tax List this yearCredit: Getty
Tim Martin, chairman and founder of pubs group Wetherspoon, also featured on the rich list

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Tim Martin, chairman and founder of pubs group Wetherspoon, also featured on the rich listCredit: Reuters
Ben Francis is the founder of the gym wear company Gymshark

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Ben Francis is the founder of the gym wear company GymsharkCredit: Alamy

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk

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