Politicians are forever seeking ways to improve their pay and conditions, and in the present economic circumstances it is not a good time to be asking for a salary increase.
So we are being courted with a smoke and mirrors approach. Those magic words " salary sacrifice " are being tossed around, with the suggestion that perhaps a small reduction in take home pay could be countered with an increase in entitlements - perhaps the provision of a car and it's running expenses at taxpayer's expense ?
This needs to be given very cautious consideration. The lower the actual pay the lower the amount the tax man levies, but those magic " entitlements " can very quickly become money eating monsters - as taxpayers in the United Kingdom have recently discovered.
The politicians there quickly devised schemes to rort their entitlements by duplication of homes subjected to subsidies and all manner of expenses - including cleaning of a moat - to pocket income that was not counted as salary.
Politicians already have their fingers in the " entitlements " bonanza with all manner of claims for things like printing, stamp allowances, communication costs - paid for by the taxpayer.
One thing is certain. If rorting is possible - it will be !
No comments:
Post a Comment