Local MP Katy Clark has come under fire from a 'News' reader this week over an expenses claim for paying an accountant to prepare a self-assessment tax return. The North Ayrshire MP has defended the expenses claim for £616.88 to pay H.W.Fisher and Company Chartered Accountants, in the most up to date expense report on the House of Commons website, Reader Jack Henry e-mailed the 'News'. He said: "In the current recession, people are struggling to keep afloat but our local MP seems to think it is OK to claim to have someone else fill in her tax return.

Most people manage to pay for this sort of service out of their own pocket. Ms Clark is paid over £60,000 a year, yet she appears to be so short of money that she has to claim the taxpayer for this expense." In response, Ms Clark said: "It is indeed the case that I have used H W Fisher accountants since I was elected in 2005 for my tax return. Some years I have paid this out of my office budget where there have been sufficient funds left at the end of the year (so it has been paid for by the taxpayer) and others I have paid it myself.

"Indeed when I was elected I was advised by MPs, former MPs and MPs staff that I "needed" an accountant given that being an MP was like "running a small business". H W Fisher were used by lots of MPs so I presumed they knew what they were doing and given no advice was available from the House of Commons that this was necessary." "I have to say I was pretty astonished by the financial set up for MPs which had clearly been set up for those with lots of money. At the moment MPs are required to pay significant amount of money up front and claim things back.

"In my first year on top of the PAYE tax I paid each month out of my salary in the normal way at the end of the year the accountants told me I had a £700 - £800 tax bill mainly for the tax which I was required to pay on the office furniture which I had purchased for use in my constituency office. Bizarrely this equipment (i.e. office chairs, desks etc for use by secretaries and caseworkers/researchers etc) is not provided but purchased by the MP (we bought ours second hand from a second hand office equipment shop) and claimed back.

"The MP pays tax on it and I now understand own it so can do what they wish with it at the end of its life or when they stop being an MP.

The Kelly report which had just looked into MPs expenses calls this an "unusual" arrangement and say the equipment is "relatively worthless" by the time the MP stands down or loses their seat but recommends should be more central provision of what is needed by MPs offices and makes a number of suggestions to " simplify" MPs finances so that accountants are not needed.

"I understand the point Mr Henry is making however quite frankly I do not think MPs pay and expenses should be so complicated that a tax return needs to be completed at all.

"Most people do not have to complete a tax return at all as their employer deals with these issues for them. MPs should be paid a salary and tax should be able to be paid through PAYE as is the case for most of the population. Most people do not elect an MP to worry about how much tax needs to be paid on their office fax machine and waste paper basket."