Rich must pass 'smell test', says top taxpayer Britain's highest earner has said the rich need to pass "the smell test" when it comes to paying tax - a week after The Independent revealed him as the country's biggest individual taxpayer. David Harding, the founder of hedge fund Winton Capital Management, paid £34m tax on his £87m income last year, an overall rate of 39 per cent. "I think if you want to be accepted by society you have to be seen to be paying your share," he said. I think the resentment and anger is felt among the middle class - the civil servants, the soldiers, the public-sector workers, the professional classes, the backbone of the British nation.