Absolutely amazing what a bit of publicity will achieve!! So it's the helicopters, trucks and more troops next, is it Tony??
Troops to get £2,240 bonus for dangers of fighting overseas
By Thomas Harding, Daily Telegraph Defence Correspondent, 11/10/2006
Troops fighting abroad are to receive a tax-free £2,240 bonus as compensation for paying income tax while on operations, the Government announced yesterday.
The Defence Secretary, Des Browne, said the cash was to compensate troops for the "dangers and harsh conditions" they were experiencing on operations.
American and other foreign forces are exempt from paying tax during operations and the Ministry of Defence has been under pressure to give British soldiers a similar deal.
All personnel will receive the money, whatever their rank, and the cost – estimated at £60 million – will not deplete existing defence budgets.
After a six-month tour, the most junior ranks would be more than £500 better off than if they had been just exempted from the tax system, Mr Browne said.
The money will be paid to soldiers, sailors and airmen who have been deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans since April this year and will also apply to Territorial Army members and other reservists.
The Chancellor, Gordon Brown, said it was right for troops to be "properly rewarded" for deployments that have resulted in 119 troops killed in Iraq and 40 in Afghanistan, in addition to more than 7,000 wounded.
The Treasury "could go further and increase the award our forces receive when on operational service in the most dangerous conflict zones", the Chancellor said.
"This will seek to ensure that the extraordinary job our forces do and the risks they take and the danger they endure is once again acknowledged, making them amongst the best paid of any Armed Forces in the world."
The most junior soldiers in Iraq earn £39.24 a day or just over £14,000 a year, which, with a 12-hour day, means they are earning less than the minimum wage.
Troops currently receive a bonus of £7 a day as part of the "longer service separation allowance" for any overseas deployment lasting more than 10 days.
Tony Blair said yesterday that the new deal was a "reward for the enormous sacrifice" British troops had made during the war on terror.
"Our troops are doing very tough and vital work in situations tougher than anyone could imagine," the Prime Minister said. "We have got to give some recognition for the work that they are doing."
Weekly telephone calls home will also be increased from 20 minutes to 30 minutes and more access will be given to the internet.
David Cameron, the Tory leader, told the BBC that he hoped his party conference speech urging the Government to free soldiers on operations from paying income tax had had some impact.
"I went to see our troops in July. I got a very clear message from them about the anger at paying income tax," he said. "I raised this when I got back and I'm glad the Government has listened."