Beatles’ Paul McCartney is UK’s first billionaire musician, thanks to Beyoncé, scrapping of ‘non-dom’ tax
- McCartney wealth is estimated at US$1.26 billion, partly due to government plans to scrap the ‘non-dom tax status’ where people do not pay tax on overseas earnings
- His fortune was boosted by strong touring, a valuable back catalogue and Beyoncé covering the Beatles’ song ‘Blackbird’, the Sunday Times Rich List said
Music icon Paul McCartney has become the UK’s first billionaire musician, according to the Sunday Times Rich List published on Friday, despite the country recording its largest fall in the billionaire count in the guide’s 36-year history.
The 81-year-old’s fortune was boosted by “strong touring, a valuable back catalogue and even a little help from Beyoncé”, who covered the Beatles’ song “Blackbird”, said the Rich List, considered the definitive guide of the UK’s wealthy.
McCartney, whose net worth was estimated at £1.0 billion (US$1.26 billion), has bucked the trend, with the amount of billionaires in the UK falling from a peak of 177 in 2022 to 165 this year.
This is partly due to plans by the government to scrap the “non-dom tax status” from next year, the system whereby people do not pay UK tax on their overseas earnings.
“Non-dom” has been a political issue for many years, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Indian wife Akshata Murty claiming the status, meaning she was not required to pay tax on her shareholding in Infosys, the Bengaluru-based IT company co-founded by her father.
However, she said she would pay UK tax on that income after coming under political pressure.