what politician is going to willingly write a law banning people giving them money?
Depending upon how one interprets “giving”, it happens occasionally. For example, in 1871, the pay for a member of the US Congress was $7,500 per annum; in 1874, they reduced their own pay to $5,000 per annum, likely as a reaction to the Panic of 1873. More recently (and less significantly), Congress has voted annually since 2010 to not accept cost of living increases to their pay. Their salaries have thus remained nominally unchanged since 2009, which in 2021 is effectively an 18.5% pay decrease in 2009 dollars through 12 years of inflation.
Politicians generally do not go into politics with tuppence and come out as multi millionaires due to their pay packets.
Generally, no, but it is theoretically possible. For example, with the current (i.e. 2009 level) Congressional pay of $174,000 per annum, a four-term senator or twelve-term representative can gross $4,176,000 over 24 years. If that politician can set aside $84,000 per year from 24 years of pay packets, a USD multimillionaire will emerge.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
