The PR exercise that is Hing Charles/Prince William's voluntary tax payments amuses me.
I'm not particularly pro- or anti-Monarchy. If truth be told, I'm not particularly keen on the concept, but the ones we have by and large do a good job, and may well be better than alternatives to Monarchy.
But the Royal Family's Tax arrangements are faintly ridiculous.
Let's start with Property. A deal was struck whereby a lot of the Properties are deemed to be "Crown Estate". The deal is the Monarch manages these on behalf of the nation, in return for various tax advantages. In return, we pay for the upkeep of various of these Properties, as well as funding the expenses of working Royals. Not cheap-so we pay roughly £100million a year for Royal's expenses/Property upkeep, as well as a £250 million renovation to Buck House-where no-one lives.
But it is not that simple. The Monarch also gets to choose which are "private" properties, and not part of the Crown Estate. So-for example-the Sandringham and Balmoral estates are privately owned. And, provided a Monarch wills them to the next Monarch. no IHT is paid. Suddenly, you can see why William and Harry don't get on-knowing your Dad is going to leave £hundreds of millions to just 1 of you isn't going to help. Same for Highgrove, and a host of "private" properties.
And saying what income tax you "choose" to pay without also giving details of income, expenses and relevant deductions is not "transparent" in my World.
Do I agree that Senior Royals should have tax concessions? Yes. Just not the amount they currently receive.
|
|
 |
|
