Self Interest

If you are like me, one of the things that will have infuriated you in the MP's expenses scandal was the way they kept saying they hadn't broken the rules and then we found out they hadn't. The fury was over the rules they themselves wrote for themselves. The reasoning was always 'well, you wouldn't expect us to have to....' and they then went on to justify expenses for things you have to pay for in your life, like commuting. What was really going on of course was a dispute over how you look at things. For instance, if your employer gives you a car to help you do your work, it becomes a 'benefit' and so, taxable. If they pay your phone bill, it is taxable. Gordon Brown really does rake in the tax every time we move. However, he gets a free house and he not only has a company car, he has a driver too. None of this apparently is a benefit. MP's get money to fund a second home and this also, is not a benefit. If everyone had the same rules as MP's applied to their employment, the country could not function. It is something we need to get very angry about and it needs to change. This does not mean giving them a pay rise either. Like it or lump it, the same as the rest of us.