The MPs earning $180k and receiving $54k in allowances
It’s tax time and allowances for items such as laundry are under the microscope, according to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). But there is one group that seems to be able to breath easy and that is our legislators, i.e. MPs, councillors and state governors.
The ATO says that those in the top tax bracket receive 15 times more in allowances on average than the typical taxpayer and claim 12 times as much in tax deductions.
The ATO data says there were a total of 4183 legislators in 2016-17 – 857 MPs, 3305 local councillors and 21 state governors – and 567 of that total (including 428 MPs) were in the top tax bracket earning more than $180,000.
Of legislators earning more than $180,000 a year, 88 per cent claimed allowances as part of their income, with the average claim being $54,000.
By comparison, just under one in five taxpayers disclosed an allowance as part of their 2016-17 income, with the average amount being $3623.
Parliamentarians' Expenditure ... the full list.
From the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA).
Example: Travel allowance.
Bit of the green eye of the little Jealous God there in the ATO methinks.
Mind you the whole public service today is IHMO overpaid for underwork.
Not helpful so many today - then if you query after - say you should have asked - when you didnt of course know that!
Salaries it seems, have crept up quietly to beating the private sector which was always the best paid for over 100 years at least AFAIK. Seems to have crept up since 2000. Got a pension too - maybe they dont get that now?
I was gobsmacked like many of you to find out how much the Postmaster General was paid - millions!
Judges too I reckon as well as dept heads. How did it creep up so high with media not noticing.