.jpg)
Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando to donate pay-rise to divorce campaign
MP who presented private member’s bill for introduction of divorce will use salary rise to finance pro-divorce campaign.
19 December 2010, 12:00am
Karl Stagno-Navarra
Karl Stagno-Navarra
1 min read
Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando will be donating the increase in his parliamentary honorarium to Moviment IVA, the pro-divorce committee of which he is a founder-member.
Members of Parliament are set to receive a cheque to the tune of approximately €17,500 apiece, reflecting the increase in their honoraria backdated to the beginning of the legislature in March 2008.
In total, MPs will now earn a total of €7,000 more per year, and the arrears will amount to approximately €17,500.
Opposition leader Joseph Muscat has akready declared he will renounce his “unexpected” honoraria increase, which is estimated to be €120,000 for this legislature. Other Labour MPs have followed suit.
But not all MPs will be renouncing this windfall, or donating it to any particular cause.
PN whip David Agius has said that he will be accepting his pay-rise, and stressed that as an MP he will pay 35% in tax on the arrears he is expected to receive.
“I don’t see why all the fuss about the increase to MPs, when we have an automatic deduction of 35% in tax, and this is contrary to many corporation chairmen or directors in the private sector who enjoy high tax-free salaries,” Agius said.
Comparing Maltese MPs’ salaries to those earned by MPs in other EU national parliaments, he added: “Do you know that Maltese MPs are the second lowest-earning parliamentarians in the EU?”
The increase in honoraria for MPs caused an uproar in the country, as next year’s cost of living adjustment, as announced in the 2010 Budget, will be of just €1.16 per week.
A Eurobarometer survey this week has shown that 16% of Maltese are struggling to pay their bills, and Eurostat estimated that almost 60,000 Maltese risk poverty.
•
Good, but he will still get his pension on the higher honoraria because he has accepted the increase. This applies to all MP's who will see their pension increased because once they accept the increase in honoraria their pension is worked on the total and not on their previous honoraria whatever they do with the increase. If the politicians think that they can outwit us they are idiots.
•
The PN whip states that some directors and chairmen get tax free salaries... Does anyone know who these people are? It's rather odd that some people don't pay taxes? What about "death and taxes?"
Alfred Galea •
[PN whip David Agius has said that he will be accepting his pay-rise, and stressed that as an MP he will pay 35% in tax on the arrears he is expected to receive.]
Does this clown realise that he'll still take home 65% of 17,000 euros which is still a hell of a lot more than the 1.16 euros those on a fixed income are getting......
•
Sur Gejtu Vella u bella kumpanija tal-UHM, nispera li issa ma taccettawx xi wage freeze fil-collective agreement tac-civil. Jekk taccettaw, tistaw tmorru tistahbew, ghax ahna ghadd nitolbu gustizzja. Isthi Gejt, jew issa qlajtha tajjeb taht il-Gvern tieghek.
•
Issa taf x'nispera? Li meta nigu ghall-collective agreement tac-civil il-gvern ma' jghidx li ghandna bzonn friza fis-salarji!! Qed tifhem Gejtu Vella, pampalun tal-haddiema fi hdan il-UHM. Sur Gejt. Inti u s-segretarji tat-taqsima tridu ssinnu snienkom u mhux tkunu komplici!! Tridu tkunu maghna u mhux KONTRA taghna.
•
This pay rise was the missing catalyst for the forthcoming events that Europe will initiate to experience. In Malta one can notice the negative approach and the political propaganda (though Joe citizen seems fed up with our political systems now) whilst in Europe the increase to its parliament members has just sent a clear message to the already insecure and instable economy, that we are being led by a bunch of parasites.
Lets hope that this European dream will not tumble down. who knows what ken follett was thinking about when writing the pillars of the earth.
