Why Prince William has not revealed how much tax he pays.

[ShenandoahRiver]

From Hello magazine of all places!
https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/841341/why-prince-william-not-revealed-how-much-tax-royal-finances/

I haven’t read the article but is it because he’s an entitled twat with an inflated sense of his own importance who has forgotten that he’s irrelevant on this day and age?

Sometimes, on TV gameshows with sizeable cash prizes, you get people declaring that they will give "some" of their winnings to a particular cause or charity that's dear to them; but they virtually never say how much.

They haven't said "all", so they're clearly hoping to do well out of it themselves too... but how much will they give? Half? A third? 10%? £10?

In the same way, when a royal vaguely says that they are going to 'voluntarily' pay some tax - as though the whole country's economy should be run like a 'pay what you can' community soup kitchen - they could literally be intending to throw a few coppers in and then bask in the glory of all the public mistakenly believing that they've paid as much as they would be forced to if they were a lowly commoner.

This 100%. They can't just pick and choose some elements of progressive modernity that suit them and the 'hey, we're just like you, really' image that they like to promote; whilst keeping the ancient, mystical, wholly unaccountable demi-god status that they have traditionally relied on for centuries at the same time.

Then we’d see something of the vast wealth etc & they’d be outrage.

What an unbelievably ridiculous argument 😂. This is why the royals get away with so much shit 🙄.

That pretty much sums it up 😄

@Winteriscoming80

So you do care??

You said "who cares" which is why I responded!

I was shocked to hear about the fact that no inheritance tax comes into play…(from google): the monarch does not pay inheritance tax on assets passed from one sovereign to another, due to an agreement made in 1993 that exempts these transfers
.

It’s outrageous - and even more so that it’s such a recent law. I don’t know what Major’s government were thinking 🤬

It's probably because they don't technically own it themselves. It's owned (and maintained) by the public... it just so happens that it's set aside for the exclusive enjoyment of them and their family in perpetuity.......

Having said that, I still don't know how they swing it with Sandringham, Balmoral and the very many other properties and assets that are decidedly their private possessions. Do they even have to pay tax on the £4,000 a week that holidaymakers pay to rent out the private properties on the Sandringham estate?

It does seem bizarre that they not only get far more public-owned opulent mansions than they could ever possibly need for their own exclusive use - without having to pay tax on the benefit like everybody else has to even just for a standard company car; but because they get these, that somehow means that everything they own is then considered in the same manner.

Almost as if they are automatically categorised as grand freeloaders par excellence, and thus not expected to ever know/do anything better outside of that remit.

I suppose people often complain about those who are 'in the system' - whereby getting one benefit or exemption to pay automatically qualifies them for many other benefits and arguably makes them significantly better off overall than ostensibly 'richer' people who have to pay for everything themselves. This is just the ultra posh entitled people's version of this.

Today's photos showing William on a plane reading his 'notes' is to counteract the workshy claims presumably. The royal family don't give the public much credit thats for sure.

@User5306921
His PR people may be getting worried.

I suspect it’s because it’s not very much given how wealthy he is and he knows the country would become incredibly angry that he’s getting away with not paying his way while we’re about to face a tax rise.

They have released loads of photos like that over the years. I don't think that William is as responsive to social media narratives as we would like to believe.

Because both him and his dad are raking it in, what with rents, development, sea beds... they really do take this country for a ride. My ancestors worked for the family in the late 1800s and ended up moving to a mining town for work, as working for the royals the family was barely existing and it comes to something when a mine is a better option!

The seabeds that you mention are owned by the crown estate. The RF doesn’t control that, the treasury get the profits from it and the King gets a certain amount (currently 12% of profits) as the sovereign grant, to pay for costs associated with carrying out his role.

Why should he? None if the rest of us have to disclose how much tax we pay. This is confidential information.

We aren't part of the Monarchy/royal family, that's why!

Why is their income from the state linked to profits from the crown estate?

Why is it a percentage when profits are increasing, why not a set amount?

It's the Sovereign Grant, specifically for official duties and upkeep of royal palaces, not income.

The profits of the Crown Estate are paid into the Treasury. The Treasury keeps 88% and pays the monarch 12%, out of which he pays for costs for all official duties for himself and the royal family (and upkeep of the palaces as above). It's currently 12%, is revised at the beginning of each reign and is reviewed every 5 years.
When the Sovereign Grant Act has been debated in Parliament they have debated changing to a different system but haven't done it yet.

Useful parliamentary briefing summary
Finances of the Monarchy

Thanks for the cut and paste. I read this the first time you posted it.

Let's hope they do debate in parliament one day.
I don't hold out much hope though

Didn't actually cut and paste, but you're welcome.

I find it a useful reference because as well as the background and basic facts it refers to arguments there have been across the House.

Disagree.

William trots out the kids when they need a good injection of PR.

And his PR team will tell him what he needs to do so he’ll do it. The comments under the recent photo of him reading notes were hilarious. Royalists commenting how ‘regal’ he looks and how they can’t wait for him to be the next king.

I presume they delete all negative comments.

I think if you look back they release photos of the children on a predictable schedule and have a sensible progression of including them in events to prepare for public life. I can't remember a time when a photo has suddenly been released out of the blue.

Of course William uses PR, everyone in public life does, but I don't think it is reactive in the way you do.