Ex-Presidents Must Not Become Burdens on Taxpayers Listen to article The statutory precedent whereby former Presidents become economic burdens on the country for life, which often means at least for a generation or roughly 25-to-30 years, is a slavish national policy that must be brought to an immediate end. For the simple reason that even career politicians are not civil and public servants in the traditional sense of the term. They are hired temporarily on contractual basis; and whatever privileges and perks that come with their job description must end with the terms of reference of their tenures in office. They can be granted a one-time gratuity lump sum of a reasonably determined multiple times of their annual base salary at the time of the expiration of their employment or social contract with our Republic.