This is a ridiculous statement. If someone is getting a raise, no matter what the dollar amount, there is certain amount of work that is expected to make up for that. NO ONE would accept a $20,000 raise if they were only going to see half or less of it. I know what I’m worth in my line of work, and if my boss came to me and said he was promoting me and giving me a $20K raise, I would know exactly how much more was expected of me to compensate for that bump, and I can tell you if I knew the government was taking 50-75% of it it would not be worth it.