Perhaps leaders charge before deductions go through (9)
I believe the answer is:
penetrate
'go through' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'perhaps leaders charge before deductions' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'charge' could be 'rate' (rate is a kind of charge) and 'rate' is present in the answer.
'before' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for penetrate that I've seen before include "Pierce" , "Pass into or through" , "Force way through, into" , "probe" , "Go through" .)