Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando to donate pay-rise to divorce campaign

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.