|
The royal family should pay tax on their private income and wealth just like other citizens, according to a report released today.
The report on the future of the monarchy from the Fabian Society thinktank calls for the monarchy to be modernised with compulsory income tax on private income and wealth for the Queen and her family.
The report also recommends that the Queen be allowed to retire and the Prince of Wales marry Camilla Parker Bowles without asking permission.
Other suggestions include an end to the historic ban on non-Anglicans, or anyone who marries a Catholic, succeeding to the throne, and the preference in the succession given to younger brothers over elder sisters.
The historic position of the head of state as the supreme governor of the Church of England should also go, according to the report.
It calls for the private and public elements of crown properties such as Kensington and Buckingham Palaces to be clarified in order to assess royal tax liabilities.
Under a deal struck in 1993, when the Queen agreed to pay income tax for the first time, anything left by one monarch to another was exempted from inheritance tax.
Michael Jacobs, general secretary of the Fabian Society, said: "The public and the private finances of the royal family should be kept properly separate and transparent.
"At the moment, we don't know what is public and what is private and where income is properly private, then they should pay tax on it just like the rest of us."
Under the terms of the Civil List Act, annual payments of public money are agreed by parliament for a 10-year period to sustain the monarchy and the Queen as head of state.
The current agreement runs until 2011 and payments are frozen until then.
Only the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh receive taxpayers' cash to perform their official duties.
The Prince of Wales' public duties are funded by income from the Duchy of Cornwall and he publishes accounts and pays income tax.
Other members of the royal family are supported by the Queen, who reimburses the Treasury for their civil list parliamentary annuities.
David Bean QC, the chairman of the commission which drew up the report, said: "Britain has been through very significant constitutional change in the last few years. The missing piece in the jigsaw is the position of head of state.
"In every other European constitutional monarchy, the role is clearly defined in law, it is depoliticised, and the public and private elements of royalty are kept clearly separate. The same principles should now be adopted in Britain.
Buckingham Palace said: "The report is a useful contribution to the debate on changes to the monarchy.
"We will be interested in seeing public reaction."
Figures released by Buckingham Palace last year showed spending by the Queen as head of state increased by 1% in 2001 from ?34.9m to ?35.3m.
The ?50,000 rise was due mainly to fire safety work at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
Spending on travel by air and rail fell from ?5,368,000 in 2000-01 to ?4,936,000 in 2001-02.
Property maintenance and services increased from ?15,290,000 to ?15,522,000. But the head of state's expenditure had fallen from ?84.6m in 1991-92, a reduction of 58%.
The expenditure is met from public funds in exchange for the surrender by the Queen of the revenue from the Crown Estate, which has increased from ?93.5m in 1991-92 to ?148m in 2001.
The palace accounts showed that the Queen received a civil list payment of taxpayers' money of ?8,153,000 in 2001 compared with ?6,509,000 in 2000.
The increase utilises part of a ?35m reserve fund from savings in previous years.
The annual civil list, fixed for a 10-year period, meets central staff costs and running expenses of the Queen's official household.
Of the ?8,153,000, ?6,057,000 (74%) was the salary costs of 284 full-time staff.
Other recommendations in the 50,000-word report include:
· transferring the ownership of the crown estate and the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, currently held by the sovereign and heir in trust, formally to the nation, and clarifying the ownership of all other royal assets including artworks
· reforming the royal prerogative powers currently exercised by the prime minister and the government, such as the power to go to war without parliamentary approval, and to appoint senior public figures. These powers should be put on a statutory basis, with parliament deciding who should exercise them
· ending the scope for political discretion in the exercise of the sovereign's constitutional powers, such as the power to dissolve and summon parliament, to give royal assent to legislation and to choose the prime minister
· the head of state should be competent to give evidence in court but no defendant should be able to compel him or her to stand as a witness; prosecutions should be made in the name of the director of public prosecutions and not the crown
· having the state opening of parliament take place only at the start of a new parliament, not annually, with the Queen delivering a speech of her own, and the prime minister setting out the government's legislative programme on a separate occasion
· combining the management of Buckingham Palace and St James's Palace in a single office of head of state under a new chief executive
|
Latest press releases 
