Revealed: the budget bonanza for UK’s best-paid bosses from Tory tax cut
The abolition of the 45p top rate of tax will deliver millions of pounds in savings for Britain’s best-paid bosses, including those in charge of energy firms benefiting from high domestic gas and electricity prices, Observer analysis shows.
Likely beneficiaries range from Britain’s best-paid woman, Bet365 chief executive Denise Coates, who could save £20m, to the boss of pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca.
The tax cut also spells sizeable benefits for the bosses of oil and gas firms BP and Shell, which have posted record profits as a result of the high wholesale prices that have left the poorest households facing a choice between heating and eating.
Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced surprise plans to cut the top rate from 45p to 40p during his “mini-Budget” on Friday, with the cut taking effect in 2023. If the new top rate had been in place when they pocketed their most recent pay deals, the average FTSE100 boss would have saved £162,500 a year, based on median earnings of £3.4m in 2021.
Pay disclosures by some of Britain’s biggest companies show that some directors stand to enjoy much greater benefits. Bernard Looney, the BP boss who has said that sky-high oil prices have turned his company into a “cash machine”, was paid £4.46m in 2021, the last year for which figures are available. Were those pay deals to be repeated in 2023, the Tory government’s abolition of the 45p-in-the-pound rate would be worth £215,500 to him, and a further £112,500 to chief financial officer Murray Auchincloss, based on his £2.4m deal. Shell’s executive directors, including chief executive Ben van Beurden, stand to benefit to the tune of £542,500, while British Gas owner Centrica’s top three earners could save a combined £73,500.
Across a group
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