I have seen quite a few Blogging Tories praise Garth Turner for his view on some of the perks being given to MPs and Cabinet Ministers with regards to per diem expenses and having them applied to mortgages.
I hate to go against my BT friends, but I have worked in jobs that have worked on per diem expenses and I have worked on jobs that let you write off specific expenses with the appropriate explanation.
And in the private sector if you have a per diem food expense (let’s say for example $40 per day), then you get that money whether you spend $30 on food or if you spend $60 on food. What a frugal person saves and puts away to spend on whatever they want, be it a mortgage or saving for baby’s new pair of shoes is irrelevant. The per diem expenditure companies make is not something they follow up on.
The whole purpose of per diems was to minimize expense reports and follow up or verification that the expenses submitted were valid.
Many of you know I am quite frugal when it comes to spending tax dollars and that I am quite a fiscal conservative but their is a clear division here.
When a per diem guidelines is set up the only two primary issues should be a) what days should an MP receive a per diem? and b) how much that per diem should be.
How the MP chooses to spend that per diem is up to them. Just as a per diem dining expense rewards the guy who eats McDonalds vs. the guy who eats at Hy’s, a lodging per diem can reward the guy who pays part of his mortgage with it vs. staying in a hotel. Remember, that MP’s do not (or SHOULD not) get the per diem when parliament is not sitting, so if they choose to invest in a home, they still have plenty of time throughout the year to pay their mortgage without a per diem out of their own pockets.
Comments?
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Well, I saw that you posted a comment on his site. It should be very interesting to see how he responds!
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I agree Joanne. I think that eventually the government should just purchase or lease a condo which can be used indefinately with enough rooms for party members to shack up.
Monte Solberg and Chuck Strahl were roomies and I am sure they put their per diems together to get an apartment for the year. A logical way to split costs, get MPs closer to fellow MPs in their party and it would probably be a lot cheaper than the $17,000 a year Garth says they get for a year.
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Makes sense, Mulder. Although Garth still doesn’t agree with you, there are a lot of people on his blog who see it your way. This is not my area of expertise, so you guys will have to duke it out. 😉
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It doesn’t happen very often but when we do cover an employee’s expenses we just pay them a per diem no matter what. It’s less paperwork and we don’t ask for receipts. We have never asked if it was all used on meals, etc., don’t really care.
The way the media has presented this makes it sound much worse than it is, I don’t agree with their take on it.
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Anne, thanks for pointing that out. It was one of my premises that the whole point of per diems is to minimize the workload on accounting departments and minimize the expense reviews for every little detail. Not to mention the fact it prevents micromanaging while managing the overall expense amount given for specific business related expenses.
I wish more accountants and corp payroll types would come post an opinion.
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