Tuesday, July 16, 2013



Prince Charles: Tax cheat

So, it turns out that Britain's future monarch is a tax cheat:

Prince Charles has been accused by an MP of "dodging around for tax purposes" during a testy select committee hearing in which the heir to the throne's most senior aides were grilled by members of the Commons public accounts committee over his financial affairs.

The allegation was made in a series exchanges on Monday between MPs and William Nye, the Prince of Wales's principal private secretary, who defended corporation and capital gains tax exemptions enjoyed by his boss's £847m hereditary Duchy of Cornwall estate.

Nye was repeatedly questioned as to why the Duchy was not a corporation, even though it has a head who is effectively a chief executive, it buys and sells assets and has trademarks. Its legal status is that it is a private estate.

"Given the Duchy of Cornwall behaves like a corporation with its income from complex investments … on the face of it many of my constituents would say it should pay corporation tax and capital gains tax," said Labour MP Nick Smith.


Just another example of the contempt Britain's aristocracy has for its citizens - and the law.