You would think that the cabinet could not ignore the motion if it had the support of an overwhelming majority of the 90 seats in parliament. But no, Mark Rutte always found a goat way not to do something he didn’t want to do. This week he wrote to the House of Representatives that a motion calling for Oranges to pay taxes – and because it is widely accepted – will not be implemented. Because, the prime minister reasoned, such a motion requires a constitutional amendment that requires a two-thirds majority. And you can’t achieve that with 90 seats in parliament. So you don’t even have to get started.

Oranges can consider themselves lucky to have such a prime minister. And with his party, VVD. As long as the liberals are in power, Oranges can feel safe. After all, the Constitution stipulates that monarchs, their predecessors, and their successors do not pay wages and income taxes. Therefore, this applies to Willem-Alexander, Beatrix and Amalia. And because spouses are also included in this scheme, Máxima doesn’t pay taxes either. The rest of the extended family do, many of whom have shown they can take care of themselves.

Some people can be very concerned about the royal family’s tax exemption. But in practice it means little. If politicians decided that the king should pay taxes, as happened in England, for example, gross wages would be increased so that the net amount equaled current wages. As taxpayers, we don’t get along financially. In addition, those who pay taxes are also allowed to deduct costs. Then we may be more expensive.

Whether it concerns the palace given to the king free of charge, or his earnings, or the purchase of speedboats or the maintenance of Groene Draeck; it’s always the money that causes noise and sparks discussions about retaining an unelected head of state. When you talk about monarchy, you also talk about republic. For non-Orange supporters in our country, the discussion about whether or not to pay taxes has always been an argument for fighting for the abolition of the royal family.

Rutte always tried to avoid those discussions by saying that the Netherlands is actually a republic with the president always coming from the same family and we call him the king. He reiterated this at his press conference on Friday. No one could laugh at him; reporters had heard of it before. But those who just commented – and that goes for a lot of people – no doubt listened with furrowed brows. A prime minister who also studies history should know better. Not everyone understands Ruttian’s humor.

The royal family isn’t going away anytime soon, certainly not for not paying taxes. As long as the connection symbol role was filled with passion, there wasn’t much to worry about. But be warned: in his ten years as king, Willem-Alexander has also lost a lot of goodwill by giving the impression that he sometimes cares what others think and goes his own way. A secret vacation to Greece, while the rest of the Netherlands responds to cabinet calls to stay home because of the coronavirus, is a low point in that regard.