Gary Lineker has hit out at billionaires who resist paying more tax, accusing the super-wealthy of treating their wealth like a competition and questioning how much money they actually need.
The former footballer and Match of the Day presenter, 65, recently joined the campaign group Patriotic Millionaires UK. He signed an open letter alongside more than 120 other millionaires urging Prime Minister Andy Burnham to introduce a 2% wealth tax on assets exceeding £10 million.
However, his impassioned calls for tax hikes have provoked a severe backlash, with critics accusing the father-of-four of "gross hypocrisy" over his own colourful tax affairs.
Earlier this year, Daily Mail+ revealed that Lineker engaged in a protracted legal fight against the taxman over a £4.9 million bill that he resisted paying.
Appearing on Davina McCall's Begin Again podcast on Thursday, Lineker defended his campaign and dismissed concerns that a new tax would drive wealthy individuals away from the UK.
"How much do you actually need?" he asked McCall, who had praised his campaign as "amazing". "I was just going to say, especially when you're talking about obviously super wealthy, like the billionaires, and you think, well, and they say, well, they'll just leave the country."
He questioned whether they would genuinely emigrate over "like 0.2% of their wealth", adding: "I mean, would they? Why? And you just think, well, would you want those kind of people in the country?"
Lineker argued that a heightened tax bill "wouldn't really make any difference" to billionaires, claiming that they instead compare assets in a game of one-upmanship.
"There'd be a lot of lobbying against it, of course, from the super wealthy. I don't know," he said. "It's like a 'my dick's bigger than your dick' kind of game for them, a lot of them. And I've got this and the other. I don't quite get it. So, but I think it's helpful."
Protracted HMRC tribunal
Lineker's remarks come after lengthy legal wrangling with HM Revenue and Customs, which began pursuing him for outstanding tax in 2019.
Court documents reveal that the taxman demanded £3.62 million in income tax and £1.31 million in National Insurance concerning Lineker's television presenting work between 2013 and 2018.
During that period, he was earning more than £1.7 million a year as the BBC's highest-paid presenter. HMRC argued that he should have been classed as an employee of both the BBC and BT Sport, where he presented coverage of the Uefa Champions League.
Instead, the presenter was paid as a contractor through Gary Lineker Media. The partnership was set up in 2012 with his then-wife Danielle Bux, allowing him to be paid partly in dividends at a lower corporation tax rate. Lineker has consistently maintained that all taxes were paid on his income.
HMRC targeted him under IR35 legislation, rules designed to crack down on tax avoidance by so-called disguised employees.
Following a costly three-day tax tribunal in London, a judge finally ruled in Lineker's favour in 2023, deciding that he was a freelancer who held contracts with both broadcasters. HMRC initially appealed the ruling but settled the case in 2024.
'Breathtaking hypocrisy'
Despite his victory, politicians and commentators have heavily criticised his calls for others to pay more, citing his five-year battle to reduce his own tax take.
Andrew Griffith, the Tory shadow business secretary, lambasted the presenter. "If self-righteous preaching was an Olympic sport, millionaire crisp salesman Gary Lineker would win gold," he said.
"It beggars belief that he would spend his time on elaborate tax avoidance schemes whilst lecturing others on why they should pay more tax," Griffith added. "As per usual for out of touch celebrities, it's one rule for him and another for everyone else."
Robert Jenrick MP, the Reform Treasury spokesman, described Lineker's hypocrisy as "breathtaking", suggesting he could voluntarily sign a cheque to the Treasury tomorrow if he wanted to pay more.
"But he won't because he's spent years trying to pay as little tax as possible on his taxpayer-funded income," Jenrick said.
Conservative MP Charlie Dewhirst echoed the sentiment: "This is the kind of gross hypocrisy we've come to expect from Gary Lineker. If he is so desperate for everyone else to pay more, why did he bother battling HMRC for five years to save himself millions of pounds in extra tax?"
Offshore firms and film schemes
Critics have also pointed to Lineker's historic financial affairs, which include purchasing property through an offshore firm and investing in contentious film schemes.
In 2017, leaked documents suggested that he avoided paying stamp duty when selling a luxury home in Barbados because he had bought it through an offshore company.
Around 20 years ago, public records show the presenter was among a number of stars who pumped at least £100,000 each into movie financing schemes run by Ingenious Media.
Between 2003 and 2007, he was a member of a series of limited liability partnerships (LLPs) set up by the firm, which gave huge tax breaks to film investors while helping to produce hit movies such as Avatar, Life of Pi and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
In 2016, HMRC declared that the schemes amounted to "tax avoidance", arguing that they tried to use "artificial losses" to avoid millions of pounds in tax.
Maxwell Marlow, director at the Adam Smith Institute, dismissed Lineker's campaign as "nothing but an absurd PR stunt".
"If Gary and his dinner party chums want to pay more tax, they are welcome to do so by speaking to HMRC, preferably out of a courtroom," Marlow said.
However, speaking on the Begin Again podcast, Lineker defended his record and argued that voluntary charity is not enough.
"Oh, the millionaires pay tax. Well, I think if you know there comes a point in your life where you have a wealth and I think you can perhaps contribute to society," he said.
"Now, I know you can just do that anyway if you want to, if you want to. I think there's a way of just paying the tax, and you know, we all do stuff with charities and things like that."
He added: "But I think it misses the point when they argue about the fact, well, just do it anyway. But I think if you can get it as a kind of law that the super wealthy contribute more to society, it would make sense."
Lineker insisted he was a willing contributor. "I've always paid top, top-level tax and for a long, long, long time, and happy to do so," he said. "And then, if you know, if they want us to dip in, I think most of us would like to help in a way. So we'll see if the government does that."
