Tax MP expenses

Sir Thomas Legge judges that around half the MPs have "no issues to answer" on expenses (your report, 5 February). But this is only because he glossed over one of the most flagrant and lucrative abuses (flipping) and ignored the practice of buying large "second homes" with maximum mortgages rather than one-bedroom flats, which the spirit and a strict reading of the Green Book's clear rules required.

As MPs regarded the Additional Costs Allowance as part of their remuneration, HMRC should raise a 40 per cent income tax charge on all ACAs for the past six years, requiring them to be justified as "wholly, necessarily and exclusively incurred" for their duties, and assess capital gains tax on profits from false "main homes".

JOHN BIRKETT

Horseleys Park

St Andrews