The Annual Royal Financial Report

[CHRISinUSA]

As has sadly become now a yearly event, we were last week treated to the annual financial report of the monarchy, and the inevitable backlash from the press over the expense of the Crown.

As per the Queen's website the monarchy (excluding security and military ceremonial) amounts to 37.4 million pounds - or $69 million US.   That covers maintaining the palaces, paying salaries for staff, all official entertaining, royal travel and engagements, ceremonial occasions, etc.

I thought it would be interesting to compare this against the costs of our US President.  The first thing I realized was that - unlike the British Monarchy - the US President doesn't have to release his expenses, and they are not so easily found.

Now, I realize that our president assumes the roles of both the British Prime Minister and the Monarch, and that as the leader of the world's largest superpower, one can expect Mr. Bush to be a tad more expensive than his counterparts around the globe.  That being said, however, I was a tad surprised by the figures I did manage to find...

According to a 2003 National Geographic interview with Ken Walsh, former White House Correspondent and author of a book on the subject, the annual cost of Air Force One is $130 million per year.  But wait - that covers only the cost of that single airplane, and does not include the dozens of other aircraft which always accompany a presidential trip bearing aides, limosuines, Secret Service, prior reconnaissance, etc.

In 2000, the GAO (General Accounting Office) found that President Clinton's three trips in 1998 to Chile, China, and Africa alone cost a total of $72 million -- of which $60.5 million, or 84 percent, came out of the U.S. defense budget. And these figures include only incremental costs to the government, expressly excluding such ongoing expenses as payroll. That's nearly the whole annual cost of the Crown.

It gets worse.  In 2004, USA Today wrote an article saying that the Air Force estimates it costs $56,800 per HOUR for presidential travel, and that President Bush logged 68,000 miles that year (an election year).  By my math, presidential travel cost US taxpayers $3.8 BILLION that year.  The White House, of course, refused to confirm even the slightest figures on the grounds of "security".  

Now let's add White House expenses.  According to the Appropriations Bill 2006, the White House budget is $184 million (excluding travel, security and a whole bunch of "other" expenses).  Of this, $54 million a year goes to run the Executive Office of the President, and $12.4 million goes for maintaining the White House Residence, utilities and official entertaining.

The Queen's quite a bargain, don't you think?

[TampaBay]

QE II is one hell of a bargain.!!!

A better bargain could not be found at WalMart or at a  Kmart "Blue Light Special".

Long Live Her Majesty QEII!

TampaBay

[CHRISinUSA]

Ahh, another tid-bit I've uncovered..... The 2001 budget for the US Secret Service was $778 million.  This covers security for the president, vice president, senior government officials, visiting foreign dignitaries, and certain public buildings associated with the executive branch (White House, VP Residence, Treasury Building, etc.)  Of this, $11.5 million was reserved for protecting the incoming (newly elected) and outgoing president.  

[CHRISinUSA]

And more.....

FRENCH REPUBLIC
Public funds (1996):
Endowment and household expenses 6,278,000 FF
Administrative, secretarial, library, and office expenses 8,247,000 FF
Maintenance of official residences 6,200,000 FF
Official expenses and travel 3,659,000 FF
Maintenance of fleet of automobiles 2,075,000 FF

Total 20,259,000 FF
(US$3,689.163)
This total does not include the expenses of the Élysée Palace, the Hôtel Marigny, the Pavillon de Marly-le-Roi (used for presidential hunting), the Château de Rambouillet, the manor of Souzy-la-Briche, the Fort de Brégançon (vacation residence), and possibly other properties used by the president or presidency.

Former Presidents receive a pension, as well as a stipend as members of the Constitutional Council (the late former President Mitterand received 28,000 FF per month as former President, plus 29,000 per month as counselor), and receive staff lodging, secretariat, automobile, and security.

Source: Bertrand de Lacombe, Press and Information Service, French Embassy, Washington, D.C.

AUSTRIAN REPUBLIC

Office of the President, 1996 61,000,000 Austrian Schillings
(US $5,337,500)

(Source: Martin Eichtinger, Austrian Press and Informatyion Service, Washington, D.,C., letter of January 27th, 1997.)


REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

In Irish pounds, for the year 1996
Office of the Secretary to the President:
salaries and wages, £376,000
Travel and subsistence, £156,000
Incidentals, £15,000
Postal and telecommunications services, £62,000
Office machinery and supplies, £41,000
Centenarians' Bounty £35,000

Other departments (the Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Public Works, Garda Síochána, Defence, Foreign Affairs) are allocated funds which are linked to the President's Office, totaling... £1,715,000
Total £2,400,000
(US$3,896,160)

(Source: Cultural Attaché, Embassy of Ireland, Washington, D.C.)


ITALIAN REPUBLIC
Fiscal Year 1996
Allowance for the President of the Republic 351,476,000 Lire
(Subject to annual reevaluation; exempt from tax and insurance contributions.)
Endowment allocated to the President of the Republic 4,392,631,000 Lire
Expenses of the Presidency of the Republic 202,231,975,000 Lire
(A change is planned in the historic division of the latter two sums, which will combine them into one amount, to cover the direct operating and support expenses of the Presidency (salaries and pensions of support personnel, acquisition of goods and services, fiscal responsibilities, insurance, etc.).)

Total 206,976,082,000 Lire
(US$144,883,257)

Source: Press and Information Service, Italian Embassy, Washington, D.C. (letter of October 10, 1996). With thanks to Dr. Donald Marinelli for assistance in translation.


UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Public funds:
Salary of the President $200,000
Expense allowance, non-taxable $50,000
"For necessary expenses for the White House" $40,193,000
"For the care, maintenance, repair... of the Executive Residence at the White House and official entertainment expenses of the President" $7,827,000
"For necessary expenses to enable the Vice President to provide assistance to the President in connection with specially assigned functions" $3,280,000
Official residence of the Vice President and official entertainment $324,000
(Expenses do not include the costs of travel aboard Air Force One, Air Force Two, and United States Marine Corps helicopters, as these figures apparently are not usually broken down within the respective military budgets.)

The total for this section, representing only those sums specified in the Executive Offices Appropriations Act, 1997, is $51874,000; but the expenses continue.

Total, Executive Office of the President and funds appropriated to the President,
Fiscal Year 1997 $310,441,000

Security: The Secret Service is reluctant to provide figures. on the theory that telling how much is spent on security might reveal how much security there is. The Washington Post estimated the amount in 1992 at $140 million for protection for the President, Vice President, and their immediate families (Washington Post, December 3, 1992).

Pensions and Expense Allowances to Former Presidents and Widow of Former President
Including pension ($148,400 per year), staff salaries, staff benefits, travel, office rental, telephone, postage, printing, supplies and materials, equipment, and other services
Hon. Gerald R. Ford $446,330
Hon. Jimmy Carter $442,474
Hon. Ronald Reagan $727,566
Hon. George Bush $574,406

In addition, Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson, the only surviving presidential widow, receives an annuity of $20,000.

Former Presidents and widows of former Presidents also receive certain medical benefits and free postage.

These figures do not include the costs of Secret Service protection for former Presidents and their families, as separate figures for this expense are not available for security reasons. (Fiscal year 1995; Fiscal Year 1996 amounts approximately the same.)

[CHRISinUSA]

continued....

Air Force One: Costs of air travel by the President (provided by the 89th Airlift Wing of the United States Air Force) are difficult to determine; this is in part intentional, for security reasons, and in part because costs are spread over a number of agencies (Departments of State and Defense, Air Force, General Services Administration). Two new Boeing 747-200B's were purchased for presidential use in 1990, at a cost of approximately $650 million, plus $140 for a "maintenance and support complex" (an enormous hangar) at Andrews Air Force Base. Columnist Hugh Sidey wrote at the time, ""Americans are spending the better part of a billion dollars to get their President airborne, and then it will cost around $6,000 an hour to keep him aloft. That's more than the gross national product of Greenland." (Time, January 15, 1990.) In 1992, the Washington Post reported an estimated annual travel cost of $185 million (Washington Post, October 19, 1992).

Other public funds:

1996 Presidential Election Campaign
Clinton-Gore campaign $61,820,000
Dole-Kemp campaign $61,820,000
Federal primary matching funds (among 11 candidates) $50,863,260
federal funds for Democratic and Republican nominating conventions $24,728,000
Preliminary total $199,231,260

In addition, $12 million of the estimated $41 million cost of the inauguration festivities in January, 1997 come from public funds.

Sources: Executive Offices Appropriations Act, 1997; Former Presidents Act, as amended; Federal Election Commission press releases, April 29, August 15 and 30, 1996. It has been estimated that the total costs of the 1996 Presidential Election Campaign, from all sources, will reach $800,000,000. Special thanks to the office of U.S. Representative Frank R. Mascara.

The White House and embassies or other government offices of Algeria, Austria, Brazil, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, Greece, Haiti, Hungary, India, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, Syria, Tanzania, and Turkey failed to respond to our repeated requests for information, over a period of some months. We will attempt to publish additional expense information, on both republics and monarchies, as it becomes available.

And finally, to put the costs of both monarchies and republics in an entirely different perspective: the Fox television network has paid $1,580,000,000 for the right to broadcast four seasons of National Football Conference games, including one Super Bowl. The annual budgets of the monarchies of Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain, and Sweden would each pay for four minutes or less of television advertising during the Super Bowl XXXI football game.

[Eddie_uk]

Wonderful! Thank you Chris. It just shows you how lucky we are to have a monarchy. People who say other wise are so misguided in my opinon

[Phillida]

Air Force 1 should be put to bed and yet 200,000 is a pittance to pay a president of a large land. Just over  £ 100,000. is shabby.

[Bev]

is $400,000. per year, with an added household allowance and expense account.  Historically, the president of the U.S. is not greatly remunerated because it's an honour bestowed by the electorate.  No one is supposed to aspire to the job to improve his job or financial prospects. 

[grandduchessella]

Exactly--it was raised a few years ago--not too long. It was getting to the point where Congress (with all their raises  ) was approaching the salary of the US President and so they had to raise it.

Air Force One shouldn't be mothballed--it's basically a flying command center, not just a plane to take trips in. Planes that size cost a lot in fuel. Some of the facts regarding the cost at Andrews, etc...are somewhat misleading since those would be utilized if not for AFO and would still have high security as all military planes do. The old planes used for AFO were used for decades each so replacements aren't unusual and they are about on schedule for a plane's age and usage.

First Ladies can take military aircraft--ONLY the President can take AFO--and then the military is reimbursed. This was a huge scandal when Mrs Clinton was using military aircraft during her Senate run. It was partially reimbursed but military aircraft cost waaaay more than even chartering a private plane. (And this isn't meant as a partisn judgment so please don't see it as such.) So expenses of a First Lady and the Vice President also need to be figured in since they don't fly 'regular' either.

Plus, since British monarchs don't abdicate, you don't pay for them once they are out of office. Former Presidents (and First Ladies) are granted pretty substantial amounts for offices and staffing, etc...for life in addition to their pension. (The only one who turned down all monies, including security , was Nixon, who was entitled to them even after his resignation) There's always squabbling about this as well--most recently when Clinton picked expensive digs for his office.

 Right now we have 4 former Presidents still living--Ford, Carter, Bush Sr and Clinton as well as their wives plus Lady Bird Johnson and Nancy Reagan.

The Secret Service has way more duties than just dealing with presidential security, so their budget reflects that. The Secret Service has primary jurisdiction to investigate threats against Secret Service protectees; counterfeiting of U.S. currency or other U.S. Government obligations; forgery or theft of U.S. Treasury checks, bonds or other securities; credit card fraud; telecommunications fraud; computer fraud; identify fraud; and certain other crimes affecting federally insured financial institutions. In this day and age, that keeps them prett busy.

[Bev]

military aircraft.  They use government aircraft, and according to the Federal Elections Commisssion, Hillary Clinton paid the U.S. government exactly what her campaign was billed by the government.  I might add that the Secret Service recommends First Ladies travel on government aircraft while their husbands are in office. 

[grandduchessella]

She did, in fact, take military aircraft (both the C-9, which is airliner size and the C-20, which is the military equivalent of a Gulfstream Jet) and she paid was she was BILLED which was considerably less than what it cost--only about 1/5 of the actual price. Under law, she was only required to pay the government the equivalent of a first-class airline ticket for herself and any political aides traveling with her. She wasn't the first First Lady to use military aircraft, it became an issue because she was the first to run for political office, let alone concurrently with her husband's tenure in office.  It was covered in the New York Times amongst other places and debated (rancorously as everything is) in Congress.

[Bev]

and yes, she paid what she was billed - which is exactly what every other govt. employee who uses govt. aircraft pays.  Republicans
TRIED to make a scandal out of it, but dropped it when it was pointed out that they paid the same amount when they used private/govt. aircraft.  The Air Force does indeed run AF I, but the govt OWNS it, not the air force and the govt. pays the expenses.  AF I, AF II, and state/defense/executive dept aircraft are not budgeted to the military, they are budgeted to their own depts.

[grandduchessella]

Of for heaven's sake, it was a factual statement not an attempt at Hilary-bashing--I specifically said that. It has to do with what Presidents/First Ladies cost and it was an interesting historical note since she was the first to be First Lady AND a candidate for independent office.

I was just getting ready to add the following information in relation to Presidents:

"Even when the White House deems a trip as political, the cost to Bush's campaign is minimal. In such instances, the campaign must only pay the government the equivalent of a comparable first-class fare for each political traveler on each leg, Federal Election Commission guidelines say. Usually, that means paying a few hundred or a few thousand dollars for the president and a handful of aides. It's a minuscule sum, compared to the $56,800-per-hour the Air Force estimates it costs to run Air Force One.

It is an advantage that Bush and other presidents before him have enjoyed. President Clinton frequently was criticized by Republicans for his record-setting use of Air Force One in the campaign season, and Bush is exceeding Clinton's pace.

"It's really something that's abused," said Bill Allison, managing editor of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, government watchdog group.

"On the one hand, the president can't fly coach," Allison said. "But on the other hand, taxpayers are in essence subsidizing campaign trips, something that goes against the grain of how the political system is supposed to operate."

The White House says it is following both the law and tradition in deciding which events are official, and thus paid for by taxpayers.

"Federal election laws set forth clear guidelines as to how costs should be incurred, and consistent with decades of past practices, we strictly adhere to those guidelines," said White House spokeswoman Erin Healy.

Virtually all of Bush's trips on Air Force One have been within the continental United States.

He has made four trips each to Missouri, Florida and Ohio, and three to Wisconsin. He also has flown to 24 fund-raisers for himself and the Republican Party.

The White House labeled travel to fund-raisers "political." Likewise, it deemed as "political" a thank-you mixer with big donors in Georgia, his first campaign rally in Orlando, and bus tours through Michigan, Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin, meaning his campaign paid a share of the costs.

But of the more than $203 million Bush has raised for his re-election, less than 1% has gone to reimbursing the government for travel costs this year.

The campaign repaid White House Airlift Operations at least $512,000 from May 2003 through April 2004, including reimbursements for political travel by Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, first lady Laura Bush and political aides.

The reimbursements do not cover the cargo planes that shuttle the president's limousines and helicopters to every event, or travel expenses of White House advance workers who lay the groundwork for the trips.

An Associated Press tally of Bush's travels shows he has made at least 114 trips in the 17 months since January 2003.

Clinton flew Air Force One on 123 domestic trips between January 1995 and mid-October 1996, a period of 22 months. It was a record for re-election-related travel aboard the presidential aircraft, according to the Center for Public Integrity. "

These become issues every 4 years as to whether fair/unfair advantages are given and criticisms made about the cost to US taxpayers.

[Bev]

 I was pointing out that the republicans tried to make it into a scandal, but since it is the status quo it did not, in fact, become a huge scandal.  I also don't think that a comparison between our govt. and Great Britain is a fair comparison - our govt. administers far greater distances and far more people than GB does. 

Frankly, as an American, I don't believe in a hereditary right to rule.  The British do, and if they choose to support the royal family, that is certainly their right.

[grandduchessella]

Well, but it's not exactly 'status quo' because of the unique situation (which I find the most interesting because the history of First Ladiies are an interest to me), but I understand what you're saying.

I also wouldn't change our system, flawed as it is. I sometimes wish there was a non-partisan figure to rally around though. Americans in general don't like hereditary rule which is an issue that came up with the various campaigns on the part of noted political families--the Addamses, Harrisons, Kennedys, Tafts, Roosevelts (both branches) and, mostly recently, Bushes--since the beginning of the nation.

This could actually come up again in relation to Hilary--if she runs (and wins) we would have had:

Bush (1988-1992), Clinton (1992-2000), Bush (2000-2008), Clinton (2000-on)

I think this will actually be an issue, if she runs, in the Democratic primary. People often mention Jeb Bush as a nominee but I think he's doomed by the fact that there have already been 2 Presidents Bush. You could be the most talented politician around by people just wouldn't like it.