IIn one respect, kings have it better than ordinary billionaires: They don’t have to worry about the annoying inheritance tax. In Britain at least, a 1993 law exempted anything that one monarch bequeaths to another from tax. The Prime Minister at the time wanted to use this regulation John Major by their own admission to preserve the “independence of the monarchy”. The exemption doesn’t just apply to the Crown’s £15.2 billion holdings, including archives and painting collections. Like the crown jewels, they belong to the monarch only by office anyway, he can neither sell them nor benefit directly from their proceeds.
But also the private property of the late Queen Elizabeth II goes to her son, king, without deductions Charles III., 73, about. These include the Duchy of Lancaster, which yields almost 22 million pounds in profit a year. After all, Charles is expected to pay income tax in the future. Nor would he be obliged to do so. His mother only started doing this in 1992 after discussions about the costs of the monarchy. Charles has reiterated that he wants to follow her example.
König Charles III
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Image: AP
Those who are not appointed to the throne by the grace of God must become more creative in order to avoid the tax office. A solution for those who want to use their money for a good cause is provided by the example of the outdoor outfitter Patagonia. Yvon Chouinard, 83, has just donated most of his fortune to a charitable foundation dedicated to fighting the climate crisis. Chouinard only pays a gift tax of 17.5 million dollars for this. According to the news agency “Bloomberg”, if he had sold his company worth three billion dollars, capital gains taxes of almost 700 million dollars would have been due. Had he inherited her, the inheritance tax would be $1.2 billion.
If that is not a solution either because you would rather keep the money for yourself, the only option is to flee abroad. The Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Røkke has just found a new home in Lugano, Switzerland. This may have something to do with the beautiful view – or with the increase in wealth tax that the Norwegian government decided a few months ago.