The six LIberal, National and Labor MPs who Ted Baillieu sacked from the job of running the parliamentary super fund: (top L-R) Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Ken Smith, Deputy Premier Peter Ryan, Finance Minister and Attorney General Robert Clark, (bottom L-R) President of the Legislative Council Bruce Atkinson, Opposition health spokesman Gavin Jennings and Assistant Treasurer Gordon Rich-Phillips. The Trustees of the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Fund - the super fund for all MPs elected before 2004 - have an appeal beginning in the Federal Court on Monday after they lost a case last year against the tax office over whether MPs are liable to pay a tax levied by the Howard government between 1996 and 2005. If the appeal is successful, it will boost the fund members' pensions by about 10 per cent a year, but if they lose, Victorian taxpayers will be left hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket from massive legal bills. The six trustees of the fund who approved the lawsuit and the appeal are Deputy Premier Peter Ryan, Finance Minister and Attorney-General Robert Clark, Speaker Ken Smith, and Legislative Council President Bruce Atkinson. The only Labor member is Opposition health spokesman Gavin Jennings. The audacious bid to escape the superannuation contribution surcharge comes despite the fact that in 2000, the Victorian Parliament passed a law unanimously to make sure MPs paid the tax like everyone else. Members of the emergency services who are in the defined benefits scheme have to pay the tax. Government spokeswoman Kate Walshe said last night the Government would introduce legislation to Parliament to close the committee that had historically administered the fund. "In the context of contemporary financial management, it is appropriate that the administration of MPs' superannuation is independent of MPs and the Parliament," she said. The responsibility for that fund will be transferred to the Emergency Services Superannuation Board, which is currently responsible for all other similar public sector superannuation. Pensions of MPs in the scheme range from around $70,000 up to $150,000 a year for former premiers and a win would boost their pay by about 10 per cent a year. A loss would see Victorians forced to pick up the legal bills of the tax office as well as their own lawyers, which could be up to $300,000. The Fund's chairman Mr Rich-Phillips said on Friday that the Trustees were obliged to do the best for their members. "The Trustees obligation is to act in the interests of the fund members in accordance with the legislation," he said. The dramtic move to sack the committee comes amid rising anger from MPs elected since 2006 who do not have access to the generous scheme and are currently battling their party leaders to have their own super increased. "It smacks of hypocrisy for them to be boosting their pensions by 10 per cent at the same time as they are refusing to concede the inqeuity of the current arrangements," one MP said. Even some MPs who are set to benefit if the case succeeds have questioned the wisdom of the move. "This is just rubbing people's noses in it," an MP said. Asked about the case earlier yesterday, Sally Finlay, a spokeswoman for Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews, declined to comment.