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Queen should pay tax, say MPsTuesday 11 October 2011 The royal family will have to pay tax, pay rent on their palaces and lose their right to free air travel if proposals from the Labour party get majority support in parliament. The royal family budget is set to be discussed today and a majority of MPs back ending the queen's tax free status, according to Tuesday's Volkskrant. 'Everyone has to tighten their belts and that includes the highest in the land,' said Labour MP Jeroen Recourt. Recourt also wants more clarity on the royal family's spending. 'The budget may have been modernised but there are still many hidden elements,' he said. 'I want that to be clearer.' In particular, Recourt is concerned about the blurring of the line between the family's public role and private spending. The MP is not calling for a reduction in the queen, prince Willem-Alexander and princess Maxima's annual allowances. 'A queen should not have to make a state visit in dresses from [high-street retailer] H&M,' he said. Spending cuts However, according to the Telegraaf, a majority of VVD MPs want the government to cut the royal family's basic allowance - unchanged next year at €7.2m. The party is set to urge the prime minister to cut the royals' budget from 2013. There is considerable pressure from parliament for a change in the royal family's role. The queen, for example, is officially head of the government and is central in the formation of new coalitions. A survey for Nos television by Synovate found that 75% of the Dutch do not want the role of the monarchy to be purely ceremonial and two-thirds think Willem-Alexander should modernise the institution when he takes over from his mother. © DutchNews.nl
Wow, pretty sweet being born into royalty. I'm pleased my tax money is being so well spent. What distresses me more is the eagerness of the population to retain their serfdom. By Andrejs | October 11, 2011 12:19 PM This effectively means that these Dutch MP's want a republic state. By George | October 11, 2011 1:06 PM Absolutely! Her job is to represent the Dutch people. She should have to pay taxes just like the rest of us. Then again...why do we pay her when she is the wealthiest monarch in the world? By Ames | October 11, 2011 1:30 PM Lets face it, the royals are just about PR work these days & at 7.2m, a snip for a country like NL. Why not just concentrate more on making life harder for the poor & elderly, keep cutting services to encourage strikes, much easier and more money to be had, In that way you have more funds to build even more unaffordable & unwanted office space, increase security control & make Greece happy! (In days of olde, the king or queen was the tax collector/office!) By The visitor | October 11, 2011 7:14 PM One of the wealthiest monarch in the world and still sucking the blood out of ordinary people. Not only they have to pay tax , they have to pay back everything they stole in the past few hundred years. By grahamhacockfan | October 12, 2011 8:16 AM So she and her litter get our tax euros and then has to pay tax on the taxes we gave her. With the usual loopholes she will probably get something back in the end, resulting in higher tax burdens for the volk. Sweet royal deal. By AW | October 13, 2011 10:34 AM
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You know what they say. "No mercy for the soldier, no mercy for the Queen". I hope Netherlands comes out of this crisis fast.
By Ayres Wehrmeister Junior | October 11, 2011 9:46 AM