Home Bargains, Redrow and scrap metal tycoon: Top taxpayers in Merseyside and UK revealed

Merseyside's biggest taxpayers have been revealed by The Times, as they release their Tax List for 2024.

The sixth edition of the Tax List - released as people hurry to meet the self-assessment deadline - ranks the 100 people in the UK who paid the most tax over the last year and features famous musicians and celebrities as well as wealthy businessmen and entrepreneurs.

According to the most recently filed company accounts analysed by The Times as of 15 January, the 100 wealthiest people were liable for a total of £5.353 billion of UK tax last year.

Merseyside's top taxpayers

Liverpool-born Home Bargains founder Tom Morris and family are the UK’s twelfth biggest taxpayers, and the top taxpayers from Merseyside. The self-made billionaire, and his brothers who grew up on Scotland Road, are regarded as the wealthiest ever Liverpudlians, and paid £97.1m in taxes last year - down from £112.2m the year prior.

Next is retired brickie Steve Morgan, who founded housebuilders Redrow. Garston-born, he completed a two-year diploma course at Liverpool Polytechnic (now Liverpool John Moores University) before entering the business world aged 21 and making it big with Redrow. He paid £34.2m n tax according to his latest accounts, up from £23.1m in the 2023 list, placing him at number 37.

- North West Rich List: Merseyside's wealthiest people.

Scrap metal tycoon Chris Sheppard and his family are the next biggest taxpayers from the area, coming at number 55 on the Tax List. European Metal Recycling was founded by his father in 1994 and is based in Warrington. The family’s scrap metal empire now has sites in the US, India, Thailand and Hong Kong. They paid £21m in various taxes according to the survey, down from £29.1m the year before.

At number 98 is new entry, David and Richard Knight and family. The family own Prescot-based AHK Group which has provided inspection, analysis and other services to the mining industry for more than 140 years. A fifth generation family firm originally known as Alfred H Knight, the business is currently run by brothers David and Richard Knight. There are now sites in Europe, Latin America, Asia, Australia, Africa and Canada. The Knight family paid £10.4m in taxes.

Top 10 taxpayers in the UK

1. Alex Gerko – £664.5m
2. Bernie Ecclestone – £652.6m
3. Denise, John and Peter Coates – £375.9m
4. Fred and Peter Done and family – £204.6m
5. Sir Tim Martin – £167.1m
6. Sir James Dyson and family – £156m
7. The Weston family – £146.2m
8. Mike Ashley – £139.4m
9. John Bloor £118.1m
10. John Timpson and family – £99.8m

According to The Times, absence from their Tax List does not imply individuals are not paying their UK taxes - simply that the survey compilers have been unable to estimate how much they have paid.