Perks of Soviet Presidency: $6,400 a Month, 2 Dachas
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MOSCOW — The Soviet Parliament voted today to pay President Mikhail S. Gorbachev the equivalent of $6,400 a month and provide him with an apartment in Moscow and dachas in the capital’s suburbs and the Crimea.
Gorbachev’s salary under the measure is at least 15 times the average Soviet income of about $400 a month.
“The Soviet Parliament approved a decision on the maintenance and protection of the Soviet president for the first time in Soviet history,” Tass news agency said. “This is another step toward a law-government state where all spheres of life are regulated by law and not by secret instructions.”
The measure sets the salary at 4,000 rubles or $6,400 a month, with Gorbachev’s take-home pay about 2,300 rubles, or about $3,680 after taxes.
It was unclear exactly how much Gorbachev was making before the move by the Parliament, but he said last year he and other Politburo members earned 1,200 rubles or $1,920 a month in their top Communist Party posts.
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