In my last post I outlined how my take home pay has dropped, due to changes in tax codes. There has been no change in my personal situation, but there has been a huge change in the town hall.
The new Labour government, which promised not to raise taxes for 'workers', has raised the amount of National Insurance that employers will pay. This is going to cost Havering Council (taxpayers) millions.
I asked Havering Officers to confirm how much their National Insurance bill will go up by. The cost is going to increase by £2.1m a year. Remember, sticking your council tax up by 5% last year only raised the council £7m. So that's a huge chunk lost.
Of course, the Labour government may decide to give us £2.1m more. We will have to wait and see.
As someone paid an 'allowance' (salary) by Havering Council, I wanted to know how much extra tax they will be paying for me. Remember, Havering has to pay National Insurance contributions on councillor's pay. Until I published by pay slips, this figure wasn't public. My National Insurance Contributions cost the council (taxpayers) around £101 a month.
Using a calculator provided by payment provider Zelt, this contribution will go up to £161.35 a month. A whopping £59.97 increase a month. This means that the total National Insurance contributions paid will go from around £1200 a year to £1936.21. A £700+ increase!
Of course, not every councillor has the same income I do. This is becuase I am Chairman of a committee. So, we should calculate a toal figure based on the councillor's basic salary.
Previously, the contribution would have been £0 (if the councillor was in catergory A for NIC). It will now be £811.20 a year.
Across all 55 councillors, that's a bill of £44,616. When it was previously £0!
So, Labour's new tax regime has just cost Havering taxpayer's £44,616 for their councillors, £2.1m in total.
slow hand clap to Labour
Before you read on
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My pay
For the last 3 months my pay remains identical.
I took home £860.30, after taxes. I paid £593.80 in income tax and £35.57 in National insurance.
Pre-tax (the cost to you) I was paid £1492.67. This is made up of my basic allowance and special allowance for my role as Chairman of the Places Committee.
Basic: £867.67
Special: £625.00
Why?
And so, again, back to the "Why do this?" question.
I cover this regularly as a particular set of councillors, and political campaigners seem upset that I publish my payslips.
Three reasons;
1) You, the taxpayers, are my employers. You have a right to see what you pay me
2) Not everything is published on the council website. Some will tell you that it is, they are incorrect. Nowhere on the council's website can you find out that Havering spends nearly £2000 a year on paying National insurance contributions.
Some councillors will tell you that this is because all employers have to pay NIC. They will then tell you that they are not employed by Havering Council. So, to most people, it sounds like Havering doesn't pay anything for them.
3) There is not enough trust in politicians, especially around pay. If you can see my payslips themselves, and even my end of year tax statements, then I you have more information to hold me to account with.
My payslips are below.
August
September
October
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