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Comment by nprateem | Hacker News Reader

I take very seriously the hypocrisy, that on the one hand they're only ceremonial but on the other can privately lobby the government, are exempt from multiple laws and taxes, are reportedly billionaires yet still expect taxpayer funding.

The equivalent you might be looking for is the clowns expect us to swear allegiance to them and their offspring on Saturday. I'll happily swear at them but it won't be my allegiance.

Time to end this scam.

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They get tax payer funding only because they voluntarily give most of the income to the government.

If you wanted to frame it as a tax rate it'd be high than a normal citizen's.

I'm not ideologically royalist, but I'd rather have the current system than an elected president.

> voluntarily give most of the income to the government

Got a source? According to The Guardian they use no end of smoke and mirrors so the plebs can't find out how much they're worth. Not to mention them not being subject to inheritance tax.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-57559653

So their tax rate is 75% - 85%.

I'm no expert. You may want to read this:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/ng-interactive/2023/apr/...

The monarchy are bad but they are far from the biggest problem facing the UK. I think we should get rid of them too but suspect it will take another generation or so before it becomes politically Vivek to say so.

> can privately lobby the government

Case in point, "The Black Spider Memos":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_spider_memos

Doesn't the monarchy have to pay a lot of money for maintenance on the properties that they "own", which the government would have to pay instead if it was confiscated?

Sure, but they also take an extraordinary amount of money from taxpayers. Also, there are issues over whether they own everything they make money from (e.g., properties, and recently a large number of official state gifts). I'd say they're doing rather well off of us ;P

The Gruanidad has been running a series on this (especially nice to see in the run up to the coronation) https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/series/cost-of-the-crown

In particular, from here, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/07/british-roya...

> Elizabeth II and Charles III have extracted cash payments worth more than £1.2bn from two hereditary estates that pay no tax, in addition to the millions they receive in public funding for their official duties. In 2022, they received £21m each from the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall respectively, despite a centuries-old debate over whether the two estates in fact belong to the British nation.

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