A BUSINESSMAN who grew up in Wiveliscombe and was educated in Taunton paid £66.9million in tax last year, according to the Sunday Times Tax List.

That means Peter Kelly, 66, put almost £1.3million into the nation's coffers every week - the equivalent of about £184,000 a day.

This year's figure works out at a full £10million more than Mr Kelly coughed up last year.

Reported to be worth more than a billion, he made his fortune through IT company Softcat, which he founded in 1993.

It started out as a software catalogue he is said to have run from his garden shed to get the business off the ground.

Mr Kelly, who attended Taunton School, stepped down in October 2015 from his role as non-executive director of Softcat, which now employs several hundred people.

Before he created Softcat, Mr Kelly, who has previously described himself as a “weird and eccentric entrepreneur”, dropped out of college and started out in sales at Xerox, according to a profile on Forbes.

A profile in The Business Magazine adds that after joining Rank Xerox in 1981, he went on to set up a recruitment company in 1987, before an Apple dealership in 1988.

Mr Kelly, who lives in Buckinghamshire, no longer has a major role in Softcat, but his unofficial title before he retired was reportedly “minister of fun” and he was quoted as saying: “I just care that people are happy.”

READ MORE: Peter Kelly's previous tax bill.

He is in exalted company as he takes 18th position on the Sunday Times Tax List:

1. Alex Gerko, financial trader, £664.5m.

2. Bernie Ecclestone, former F1 boss, £652.6m.

3. Denise, John and Peter Coates, Bet365, £375.9m.

4. Fred and Peter Done and family, Betfred, £204.6m.

5. Sir Tim Martin, JD Wetherspoon boss, £167.1m.

6. Sir James Dyson and family, vacuum cleaner and engineering empire, £156m.

7. The Weston family, behind Primark and Fortnum & Mason, £146.2m.

8. Mike Ashley, Sports Direct tycoon, £139.4m.

9. John Bloor, Triumph Motorcycles, £118.1m.

10. John Timpson and family, high street retail, £99.8m.

11. Dame Mary and Douglas Perkins, Specsavers, £97.7m.

12. Tom Morris and family, Home Bargains, £91.7m.

13. Sir Chris John, hedge fund manager, £84.8m.

14. Stephen Rubin and family, Speedo, Kickers and Berghaus, £81.2m.

15. Lady Philomena Clark and family, widow of Arnold Clark, £78.3m.

16. Glenn Gordon and family, whisky dynasty, £74.3m.

17. Lord Bamford and family, JCB diggers, £67.8m.

18. Peter Kelly, IT giant, £66.9m.

19. Leonie Schroder and family, finance, £62.5m.

20. Earl Cadogan and family, - Chelsea and Knightsbridge landowners, £60m.

Robert Watts, who compiled The Sunday Times Tax List, said: “This has been the highest taxing government since the Second World War and although the total tax take is up – it is only by 3.3 per cent.

"Bernie Ecclestone seems to have saved Jeremy Hunt's blushes.

“The total tax found in this year's research would have been a wedge lower were it not for the vast sum shelled out by the Formula One tycoon to settle a long-running investigation.

"If you look at the bottom 98 in this year's list they paid £4.0335 billion, £200 million less than last year. That’s the amount the government pledged to the NHS to boost winter resilience.

"Two thirds of the wealthy individuals in 2023's Tax List were found to have paid less tax this year.

“That was usually because their businesses have reported lower profits. But lower tax receipts from the UK's richest people may raise more than the odd eyebrow at a time when the public finances remain stretched and there is talk of budget giveaways in the air.”