West Midlands’ nine biggest tax payers in 2023, according to the Sunday Times

With politician Nadhim Zahawi - MP for Stratford-upon-Avon since May 2010 - getting sacked as the Chairman of the Conservative Party due to his controversial tax affairs, we’ve had a look at the highest tax payers in the West Midlands.

The Sunday Times recently listed the 100 biggest tax payers in the UK, including authors, singers, business families, and young entrepreneurs. J.K. Rowling, Sting, a Moscow-born billionaire who renounced his citizenship to Russia are among those who feature in the list in 2023.

Some of the richest West Midlanders also feature high up in the biggest taxpayers list by the Sunday Times with the region being home to one of UK’s highest taxpayers, as betting company Bet365 founders - the Coates family - are the second highest taxpayers in the whole country. According to a the newspaper’s rich list - the Coates’ were the 17th richest in 2022 in the UK and the richest in the West Midlands.

They are not the only ones to have paid millions in tax, here is the complete list of people from the West Midlands adding millions to the exchequer:

1. Denise, John and Peter Coates (No. 2 in the UK)

They founded gambling giant Bet365 from a Stoke-on-Trent car park. They paid £460.2m in tax.

2. Mike Ashley (No. 6 in the UK)

Mike Ashley is a British billionaire and retail entrepreneur focused in the sporting goods market, and the chief executive of Frasers Group Plc. Frasers Group owns the brands House of Fraser, Sports Direct, Jack Wills, Game, Evans Cycles and more. The Walsall-born businessman paid £133.5 m in tax.

3. Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan and family (No. 8 in the UK)

“Chicken king” Ranjit Boparan is the founder and owner of 2 Sisters Food Group with his wife, Baljinder Boparan. Ranjit was born in Bilston and still lives in the West Midlands. His West Bromwich-based company was started in 1993. He paid £120.7m in tax.

4. Caspar and Sebastian MacDonald-Hall and family (No. 21 in the UK)

Caspar MacDonald-Hall, the founder of London and Cambridge Properties, is also a developer and he was worth £954m in 2022. Sebastian, Caspar’s son, is also part of the family business. They paid £59m in tax in 2023 and are a new entry in the top 100 taxpayers’ list.

5. Lord Bamford and family (No. 23 in the UK)

JCB chairman Lord Anthony Bamford’s father Joseph Bamford was the founder of JCB. Lord Bamford was born on the same day his father founded the yellow digger manufacturer JCB — October 23, 1945. He and his family paid £54.7m in taxes in 2023.

6. Lord Edmiston (No. 46 in the UK)

The Evangelical Christian billionaire had founded a car dealership empire with a £5,000 redundancy cheque. He is the founder of International Motors. He paid £29.7 m in tax and is a new entry in the top 100 list.

7. Garry Newman (No. 85 in the UK)

Newman from Wolverhampton is the owner of FacePunch Games which made Garry’s Mod. FacePunch is based in Birmingham.He paid £13.7 m in taxes in 2023 and is a new entry to the list.

8. Baron Illife and family (No. 90 in the UK)

Lord Iliffe’s family used to control newspapers in Birmingham and Coventry, including the Birmingham Post, the Birmingham Mail and the Coventry Evening Telegraph, and were also part owners of The Daily Telegraph. The first Baron also represented Tamworth in Parliament as a Conservative. Currently, the third Baron, who succeeded his uncle in 1996, and his family are one of the UK’s biggest sellers of Christmas trees. They paid £11.6m in taxes.

9. Ben Francis (No. 90 in the UK)

Ben Francis - the co-founder of fashion brand Gymshark - is only 30 and a new entry into the list. He paid £11.6m in taxes. His business was founded from his parents’ garage and is worth £1bn now.