Leechs on the taxpayer

The Nation has an interesting report on royal leeching on the taxpayer – those are our words.

It reports on Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, leader of the Progressive Movement, and his call for “more transparency and scrutiny of the budget allocated to support the monarchy…”.

Thanathorn has posted comments on Facebook, following up on his earlier reported comments.

It is stated that the “proposed budget allocation for the highest institution amounts to Bt37.23 billion, up 25 per cent from fiscal year 2020…”. This is about $1.2 billion. And we are thinking that this is not adding up all the leeches suck from the taxpayer.

It “includes a direct budget of Bt20.21 billion and indirect budget allocated via other state agencies of Bt16.92 billion.” Almost 9 billion baht is “allocated to agencies under Palace supervision…”.

One item Thanathorn mentioned was the budget for “maintenance and repair of 38 aircraft and helicopters of the Royal Family in fiscal year 2021” which he said “amounted to Bt1.97 billion, compared with Bt1.58 billion, Bt1.46 billion and Bt1.29 billion in fiscal 2020, 2019 and 2018 respectively.” 38 aircraft! Wow. How many royals get to flit about in these aircraft?

Thanathorn complains that the funds allocated to the “monarchy was least scrutinised…”. As far as we are aware, there has been no scrutiny at all for several decades.

He made the sensible suggestion that “Palace agencies follow budget procedures just like other state agencies.”