A major reason in the 1979 overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was the level of corruption in the upper tiers of the monarchy, epitomized by the bonyads — so-called “charitable” trusts which had the privilege of levying what in the West would be arbitrary and illegal taxes upon the citizenry.
(It would be like an English King saying “I’ll tax whomever however whenever I want, and Parliament is permanently dissolved.”)
Instead of ending the corruption, Ruhollah Khomeini merely switched ownership of the bonyads to his clerics (and the IRGC.) They presently expropriate a third of Iran’s GDP. Every village has at least one bonyad, which is how the local clerics get their incomes.
This, of course, is no indication of what the young Pahlavi would/will do. Hopefully, we’ll find out.
Kyle Orton's Blog 
A major reason in the 1979 overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was the level of corruption in the upper tiers of the monarchy, epitomized by the bonyads — so-called “charitable” trusts which had the privilege of levying what in the West would be arbitrary and illegal taxes upon the citizenry.
(It would be like an English King saying “I’ll tax whomever however whenever I want, and Parliament is permanently dissolved.”)
Instead of ending the corruption, Ruhollah Khomeini merely switched ownership of the bonyads to his clerics (and the IRGC.) They presently expropriate a third of Iran’s GDP. Every village has at least one bonyad, which is how the local clerics get their incomes.
This, of course, is no indication of what the young Pahlavi would/will do. Hopefully, we’ll find out.
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