The Republican Movement is arguing that it is time for the Governor-General to pay income tax. I agree. The current exemption is an archaic holdover from the seventeenth century, when there was no distinction between the government's money and the monarch's money, and the purpose of taxation was to raise money for the monarch to pay for parties and fight pointless wars. But 350 years of constitutional evolution has disentwined the monarchy and the government, so that now the monarch, while nominally in charge (on the proviso that they leave the actual governing to elected representatives on pain of decapitation) is just another wealthy individual. Where the phrase " L'État, c'est moi" actually meant something, now it is simply a laughable reminder of past absolutism.
In the UK, the Queen has recognised this shift, and has "voluntarily" paid income tax for the past fifteen years. In New Zealand, we're still throttled by the dead hand of the past, and our Governor-General enjoys the old monarchical privilege. It's time they joined the modern world, and were treated like any other citizen. The Prime Minister pays taxes, judges pay taxes, the people (who supposedly rule the country) pay taxes. It's time the Governor-General followed suit.
