[url]http://www.thelocal.se/38392/20120109/[/url]
[b]Sweden's Left Party decided on Sunday to implement a mandatory “party tax” that would cap take-home pay of the party's elected officials at 27,500 kronor ($3,950) per month, requiring them to donate the remainder to the party.[/b]
The Left Party has long felt that politicians' salaries are too high and has previously had a system whereby elected officials could pay a voluntary fee of 5,000 kronor to the party coffers.
But on the final day of the party's congress on Sunday, [b]Left Party members voted to make the fee mandatory[/b] while at the same time nearly doubling its size to around 10,000 kronor.
“Members of the Riksdag will have to donate any amount over 27,500 kronor after tax. We're talking about pre-tax incomes of about 40,000 kronor,” Left Party spokesperson Kristoffer Housset told the Dagens Nyhter (DN) newspaper.
Now any Left Party member who runs for elected office will be [b]required to sign a contract with the party pledging to abide by the new rules[/b].
The party also plans to make public the list of party members who have paid their fees.
According to Housset, the new system will make it [b]harder for Left Party politicians to get re-elected if they don't abide by the rules[/b].
The motion passed with a clear majority, with 129 members voting in favour, while 84 voted against the tougher rules.
According to Left Party estimates, fees taken from the salaries of Riksdag members alone are expected to add about 2 million kronor to party coffers.