Nepal may be one of the poorest countries in the world but the members of its royal family are very rich. Until two months ago the King Gyanendra controlled everything with the support of the army and the members of the royal family enjoyed all the riches they could wish for. They did not have to pay tax, disclose their income and saw the budget for them to be increased by the King 6 times in just a couple of years. Suddenly, they became richer and their income and wealth only started to increase. Even it is alleged that some of the members of the Nepalese royal family have huge amount of money in bank accounts of Switzerland, Cyprus and India. One of the most favorite hobbies of the royal family members is to visit foreign countries and often they do it at the expense of the taxpayers. So, until, April of this year they enjoyed a very lavish and expensive lifestyle.
After the pro democracy revolution the new government in Nepal faced pressure from all sides to curb the excessive waste of the taxpayers' money and the new government formed a committee to look into this matter. I am quoting from a report published in India eNews:
" Now a parliamentary committee formed to implement the house’s decision has asked the government to amend two dozen laws and scrap 21 more that entitle the palace to tax exemption, the Kantipur daily reported.
After the laws are amended, the king and his family would have to disclose their income, verified by auditors, to the government by mid-July, the daily said.
The properties, assets, businesses and bank accounts of the royal family - at home and abroad - are a grey area."
I am sure that the idea of imposing tax on the Nepalese royal family will be greeted with satisfaction by many people in the country. This is also very good news for the Nepalese economy. Nepalese economy has been languishing miserably in the last few years without having any significant growth in GDP. If the royal family starts to pay tax it will be a good blessing for the Nepalese government as they are always on a very tight budget. Any extra source of revenue is a great blessing for the government now.
I wonder how the members of the Royal family will feel when they have to pay tax just like everyone. So, after this bill is passed, they will have very little scope of traveling to foreign countries and instead will have to focus on managing their own wealth in a way that they do not suffer loss. It's not bad that they will have some taste of the life of the common people at last. Well not quite because they still own enormous amount of land. Still, I am happy that they will have to pay tax. I guess the royal families in many countries will get a little bit discomfort about this matter.
Let me know your idea. Should royal family pay tax or not?
A great decision has been taken by the Nepal government. In a democratic country there should not have any chance to expense anything of people for the personal interest. Nepal is noot a rich country so they have to ensure the highest use of their resources so that the overall development cna be ensured.
Thank you for your excellent article.
Posted by: Biplob Kishore Deb | June 27, 2006 2:37 PM | Permalink to Comment