Monarchy or Republic?

[C0ckney]

way to miss the point.

[Provost Harrison]

My reply was perfectly relevant to your post...you avoid unnecessary waste...

[C0ckney]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
My reply utterly failed to address the point raised...

fixed. :/

[Kontiki]

Is there a calculation/guesstimate/range of what the monarchy actually costs the UK on an annual basis?

[C0ckney]

oh provost...

i've found this.

The Civil List as it currently exists was created on the accession of King George III in 1760, when it was decided that the cost of government should be provided by Parliament. In return, and in a move described by John Brooke in his biography of the King as "from the point of view of the Crown ... the most disastrous step that could have been taken", he surrendered the hereditary royal revenue. This included income from the customs and post office and the net surplus of the Crown Estate. The £132.9 million profit of the Crown Estate for year ending March 31st 2000 was paid to the Exchequer for the benefit of taxpayers. This sum far exceeds the total cost of the monarchy. The Queen's Civil List has been fixed at £7.9 million per annum until 2011. Full details of Royal Household expenditure are published.

...

The annual cost of the monarchy is approximately £37 million. For details see www.royal.gov.uk

In republics not only do presidents have to be supported financially, as do former presidents and widows, but their official duties have to be paid for, and official and historic residences maintained.

And there is the added expense of periodic elections. Republics show great reluctance in publishing the cost of their heads of state, but the cost of the British monarchy compares extremely favourably.

it is worth noting that this does not include the money made through tourism and the benefits to our trade, especially with commonwealth countries

the issue is really an aside, but it's nice to dispel this 'waste' nonsense.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Last Conformist

It is, and whether it should be is irrelevant, because it can't be anything else.

Is not.

[Ecthy]

The result so far is relatively pro-monarchy, if you know how to interpret statistics: 31% of people are in favour of a monarchy, a mere 33% like their republic the way it is

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by Kontiki
Is there a calculation/guesstimate/range of what the monarchy actually costs the UK on an annual basis?

You can ignore the work of fiction C0ckney posted, which is a typical piece of royalist spin.
You can also note that the link he provides is, by its own admission, not a complete guide to all of the Queen's sources of income. It fails to mention the Duchy of Lancaster and the revenues gained from the royal ownership of the seabed around Britain- Lynmouth harbour alone pays £60,000 p/a to the Royals to allow boats to pass over the Queen's seabed. That's just one pleasure-harbour.

It also fails to dwell overly on the fact that the Civil List is not taxed. It notes that Prince Charles "voluntarily" pays income tax, which is jolly nice of him, don't you think?

It fails to ascribe any definable value to the Queen's exemption from death duties, or from the royal privileges to build on green-belt land (from which the Duchy of Cornwall pocketed over £500 million in the 1990's.

There's loads more. Monarchy could be relatively inexpensive, but the House of Windsor is not.

[Last Conformist]

Some years ago, the commies here suggested privatizing the royal family and buying in the whole HoS deal.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Here's a quick quiz to get you in the mood for how the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha operates.

Q- The Duchy of Cornwall and Duchy of Lancaster are private companies with multi-million pound turnovers incorporating everything from farm rental to convenience foods. They exist solely to provide an income to their sole beneficiaries- the Monarch and Duke of Wales respectively.
How much Corporation Tax do they pay annually, on average?

A- None.

Q- Every other European Royal family considers gifts to their Royal Family occasioned through state business to be state property. Does the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha hand over their gifts to the state?

A- No. They keep them.

Q- OK. So if they keep the gifts, do they therefore get taxed on them like any other employee getting gifts in the line of work?

A- No.

Q- So how much do the Royal Family actually earn?

A- Nobody's entirely sure, and they sure as hell aren't saying.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Now an open question for all subjects of the lovely Germans in Buck House.

If you are unhappy with the fact that you are ruled by people who aren't even subject to the same tax regime as their subjects, how exactly do you hold them accountable?

[Ecthy]

You don't, since they're not citizens.

Get a new government system.

[Caligastia]

Sounds like the British monarchs excel in the "bastard" department over their european counterparts.

[duke o' york]

The value of the royals' land is absolutely colossal - I'm sure that the taxpayers coup recoup something of their cash that the royal family has leeched from them over the years by the sale/publicisation of the wealth of assets they hold.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by C0ckney


fixed. :/

I am curious what the general consensus in this thread on which of us is 'ignorant' in this matter is if this is the level your arguments are reduced to.