Look at that. What a waste! That queen, living it off the government in her castles with her corgis and gin? Just how much does this cost to maintain? 40 million pounds. That's about 65 pence per person per year of tax money going to the royal family. Sure, it's still 23pence short of a complete shield, but it might be more than you want to pay. After all, those are your coins. Why does

the Queen get to steal them? Well, it's a little complicated. The story starts with this

guy, King George III, most well known as the monarch who lost the United States for the

empire. Less well known, but far more interesting, is he likely suffered from a mental illness

called Proferia, which has the unusual side effect of transforming your poop from its

normal boring brown into a delightful shade of purple. But I digress. Back to the reason the Royals get tax money. King George was having trouble paying his bills and he had racked up debt. While he did own huge tracts of land, the profit from their rental was too small to cover his expenses. He offered Parliament a deal. For the rest of his life, he would surrender the profits from the rents on his land in exchange for getting a fixed annual salary and having his debts removed. Parliament took him up on the deal, guessing that the profits from the rent would pay off long term. Just how well did Parliament do from this? Back to the present day, let's compare the profits and losses by using a tenor to represent 10 million pounds. The cost to maintain the royal family today is 40 million pounds per year,

but the revenue paid to the UK from the royal lands is 200 million pounds per year.

200 million in revenue, subtract 40 million in salary costs, equals 160 million pounds in profit.

That's right, the United Kingdom earns 160 million pounds in profit every

year from the royal family. Doing the math for an individual, 160 million pounds divided by 62

million people is about 2 pounds and 60 pence. Because of the royal family, your taxes are actually

£2.60 andence cheaper each year than

they would otherwise be.

But perhaps that's not enough for you because you're a real greedy geyser.

Why not kick the royals out and keep 100% of the revenue?

Because it's still their land.

King George the crazy wasn't crazy enough to give up everything, just the prophets.

But it wasn't only him.

Every monarch since King George III has voluntarily turned over

the prophets from their land to the United Kingdom. If the government stopped paying

the royal family's living and state expenses, the royals would be forced to take back the

profits from their land and your taxes, dear monarchy haters, would go up, not down. Plus

...