I can't help feeling that you really mean a subset of "professional people" like fancier lawyers, money-shufflers, etc. I doubt that 80k would be regarded as poverty by many professional engineers or academics, though, for example. And *just* possibly they - advised by pro lawyers, etc, called to house committees, might do a better job with less of a tendency to go to the trough. So the more you make your point, the more I come to feel that limiting MP income to a level as 'low' as 80k might well be a good idea.