Greek PM wants abolition of MP privileges

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wants to abolish tax breaks for MPs and reduce wages for ministers and public organization heads. Tsipras underlined the need for the legislation during a meeting with Alternate Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas, Alternate Administrative Reform Minister Christoforos Vernardakis and top government official Spyros Sayias. Tsipras was cited as telling his colleagues that the abolition of tax breaks for farmers can only be possible if tax exemptions that apply to ministers are also applied.

According to government sources, some of the proposed measures are:

* Taxation of the full amount of monthly wages for MPs and the compensation they receive when participating in parliamentary committees (at the moment only 75% of MP wages are taxed and committee participation is tax free)

* Removing the ceiling on the total remuneration for governors and members of Board of Directors in state companies and entities so that it is set at 80%of the compensation received by non-parliamentary ministers. Furthermore, the compensation by presidents and Board of Directors should not be allowed to exceed the monthly salary of the head of the Supreme Laws.

Tsipras said that the new legislative initiative was not one of the demands being made by Greece’s creditors but the duty of a government expecting society to adhere to the tough measures it is imposing.