Out of interest I always thought that the Monarch was exempt from tax but voluntarily pays tax. Wasn't that as a result of some agreement a decade or so ago? If that's the case what is she actually avoiding?
Good question. There's an unofficial agreement that's kept secret by which the Queen pays tax "voluntarily". (it isn't really voluntary - if she hadn't agreed to this, we the proletariat would have stormed the walls of Windsor Castle and chopped her head off - if she was in at the time) No one knows how much she pays, but presumably it's based on a percentage of her income. If some of her income in earned abroad and the amount kept secret, it doesn't fall within this "voluntary" arrangement. I don't buy the argument that her Maj did not know what her tax advisors were doing. It's poor judgement on her part imo.
Personally, I'm delighted that Her Maj has a good team behind her on this...presumably these savings enable her to keep the amount drawn from the Civil List down and is used to employ staff across all royal estates, as well as maintain buildings and gardens. Of course, I could well be naïve and find that the royal family have a crystal meth habit and Old Phil has a penchant for ladyboys.
Okay, but in that case do we know if it's her own income which is after all officially exempt from tax as being the head of state that has been moved off shore or is it Crown Income that has been invested for the upkeep of Royal household expenses etc? If the former it's not really a problem as she is voluntarily paying tax on her income anyway and if the latter isn't it a case of prudent investment to generate a greater return to meet running costs? Only asking out of interest......
I'm willing to bet her Maj doesn't ask for her Civil List payments to be reduced. I suspect monies get siphoned down to her kids, particularly her favourite son, Andrew, and his toe sucking ex-wife. They're well in the money these days (if you detect I don't like Prince Arrogant Andrew, you'd be right!)
It's the Duchy of Lancaster, which is her private estate. As I say, the voluntary bit isn't really voluntary, unless she is prepared to damage the reputation of the monarchy. In diplomatic terms, no one forces the queen to do anything, but government may suggest she does something if it pleases her. She's our monarch, head of state and one of the wealthiest women in the world and should be setting a good example - there's the embarrassment.
Not sure her advisors are that sharp. She put £5m into a fund which invested in Threshers (bust) and Brighthouse (owes its customers £14.8m). I suspect her private income is used to run her private estates, all £500m worth of them, the Civil List was ended in 2012, she now gets a ‘Sovereign Grant’ which is a percentage of the return on the Royal Estates (which the state owns) over £30m a year out of which she has to pay upkeep and repairs to places we own but she lives in like Buckingham Palace. It’s quite complicated.
Andrew? Get behind me in the queue... There's something not quite right about Britains favourite council tenant on benefits hiding money offshore. It means the means test to judge how much benefit is given is working from the wrong figure. If that was an ordinary person they'd get their benefits stopped. I appreciate we're not talking about tax evasion here, but some people in public life are expected to set an example for us all to follow and this does not qualify.
All this hate for the royals, I bet if offered quite a few of you would jump at the chance to be a Queen!
Where's the hate? Disappointment, sure, but I don't hate the Queen, nor do I hate Andrew - but I do think he's self-serving and agree with Goldie about his arrogance. Citizen, not subject - although my passport would disagree :-(
I wish her well as she has a lot to pay out now that she has lost one of her three dragons to the Night King. She is also still paying child support for Jon Snow To cap it all someone also has to think about rebuilding that Ice wall so offshore investments will give her a better yield I blame that Durbar bloke in NY who runs her affairs and is currently trying to short the Brexit position
I'm in favour of a slimmed down royal family where the focus is on those in line for the throne and each member is judged on his or her merits and not bloodline. Get rid of all the Duke and Duchess titles for the hangers-on, and drastically reduce numbers in the House of Lords at the same time.
If Elizabeth Windsor comes round for a cup of tea she will get one along with anyone else. She can leave her title outside - if she wants to call herself whatever title outside then she can do it, and if a few million want to recognise it then I can't stop them, but she has no relationship to me whatsoever. As for tax avoidance being illegal - it is theft, with a capital T. There is no such thing as a self made rich man because every one of them needed an infrastructure around them to become rich, and that infrastucture had/has to be paid for. To avoid taxes yet continue to enjoy the infrastucture around you ie. the protection of law, police, hospitals, roads, transport etc. is theft in my book.
Yeah, I think he’s a git too. He’s wrung that Falklands chopper pilot bit for all it was worth and is now possibly the biggest tosser in the family, which is quite something given some of the other candidates.
