Fairfacts Media notes a Stuff report that the Royal family now costs the British taxpayer 69p per year. They get this figure by dividing the official cost of £41.5 million by the population of the United Kingdom (60 million).

Anyone with an elementary understanding of economics can see through the spin here: babies, most young people, pensioners, the unemployed and the sick do not pay taxes. According to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (the UK equivalent to the IRD) there are 31 million income taxpayers (the main source of revenue for the government) in Britain. This means the actual cost to British taxpayers is <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <![endif]-->£1.33p per taxpayer. In addition, there's no provision in the official £41.5 million for costs such as security. Republic UK has more details on Royal finances at his website.

This doesn't have much relevance to the republic debate in New Zealand. New Zealand taxpayers do not make any contribution to the cost of the monarchy. It's a British institution, so the British taxpayer pays for it. However, the New Zealand taxpayer does shell out $9 million for the Queen's representative, the Governor-General, which is the cost of a real head of State.

There is the cost of Royal tours though. The New Zealand taxpayer has to shell out a fair amount for these when the Queen or members of the Royal family come to visit. Of the Royal tours during my lifetime, I can't remember any that were particularly well attended. The 2002 Royal tour stands out - someone told me that the Queen's Queen Street walkabout had a crowd that wasn't even "one person deep". Hopefully John Key's austerity measures extend to pointless Royal tours that no-one attends to save the taxpayer.