In the UK, people have been getting increasingly annoyed about tax cheating by multinational companies such as Starbucks, Apple, and Facebook. Now it turns out that the rot comes straight from the top:
HM Revenue & Customs has been asked to investigate alleged tax avoidance by Prince Charles's £700m hereditary estate.
The duchy of Cornwall last year provided Charles with an income of £18m and HMRC's anti-avoidance group is now being asked to examine its non-payment of corporation tax following a potentially significant court ruling on its legal status.
The issue has been raised by an accountant investigating the tax affairs of the duchy – an agricultural, commercial and residential landowner.
He has analysed the impact of a judicial ruling handed down last year. Anti-monarchy campaigners claim it shows the duchy is running "a well-entrenched tax avoidance scheme".
So, Britain's future head of state cheats on his taxes - in the process depriving "his" people of their schools, roads, and public libraries. Its a terrible example for him to set - but a perfect illustration of the moral void at the heart of Britain's elite.
