Tuesday, 27 October 2009

Keeping It In The Family

Why shouldn't MPs employ their relatives? This is an assault on the family firm and on the family farm. The latter, at least, also rightly maintained at public expense.
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5 comments:

  1. JJGM27 October 2009 at 13:47

    Oh surely the fact must be that it is "legitimate employment". In the family farm or family business scenario, the "wife" is often shown to be an employee of the business......and earning rather coincidently....the exact same amount as Personal Tax Allowance. Therefore the money gets deducted from accounts goes to an employee who does not pay tax,
    Evasion or Avoidance.
    Difficult in SOME cases to judge that the "wife" (or incresingly "husband" DOES SOMETHING that requires payment).
    We might argue as a good accountant would that the "doctors wife" is a de facto receptionist.
    Could we argue that another "wife" of a business man cooks his meals and thats a job.
    Hardly.
    After all the wife of a postman is not "paid".
    There is already a large discrepancy between self employed and PAYE rights.
    The fiasco over re-claiming tax on dividents and bank interest in the early 1990s favoured the middle class.
    A "wife" could use her ta allowances against say £1000 interest from a joint bank account even though she was not working and the investment while in joint names was of course the husbands.
    The awful truth is that this wasa device by Tories to favour Tory voters.

    Likewise Derek Conway was hardly EMPLOYING his fragrant family. He was giving them money.
    Take Billy Armstrong MLA UUP for Mid Ulster. Billy is entitled to expenses for his Constituency office". A farmer, Billy lives on the family farm half way between Cookstown and Moneymore. So his office is in one of those towns. To serve his constituents.
    No Billys wife built a small bunglaow on the far and rents it (not cheaply it might be added) to Billy.
    Not that Billy should worry.
    The Taxpayer pays for it.
    On reflection Billy can see nothing wrong with this.
    Ah the wives are revolting so to speak.
    Well they lived the good life.
    No sympathy.
    And have you never actually come accross a politicians wife?
    If they cant say "dont you know who I am?" they would be speechless.
    Sorry no sympathy.

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  2. David Lindsay27 October 2009 at 13:56

    These MPs' wives really are working. As the members of a family do in a family firm or on a family farm.

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  3. JJGM27 October 2009 at 17:53

    David ......have you lined up some relatives to work for you after your election next year.
    Please note that I am available cheaply.

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  4. David Lindsay27 October 2009 at 18:04

    I can't really see them working for me.

    One thing not being mentioned is how many of these wife-secretaries were originally just the secretaries, with other people as the wives.

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  5. JJGM27 October 2009 at 19:25

    Or indeed how many wives were once mistresses or how many secrearies are mistresses now.

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