My tax guy and I shared a quick laugh last week.
While comparing my annual pay over recent years, he commented, with an ironic smile, how it has not kept up with the rate of inflation. I said that seems to be the case for a lot of British Columbians – earnings have generally flatlined – except for those in government.
Hardly a zinger, but tax preparation is fairly dry material.
There’s been quite a bit of buzz as of late regarding government-type folks giving themselves pay hikes, or using/abusing their seemingly unfettered access to the public piggy bank,while it’s “austerity budgets” for everyone else.
Our federal representatives in the House recently voted themselves their second pay raise in as many years. For 2014-15, MP’s will receive a base salary of $163,700 (excluding expenses, perks, etc.).
The prime minister’s pay is going up to $320,400 (MP wage included), plus a house, cottage, car, etc.
Senators are also getting a salary increase, up to $138,200. This has to do with their pay being tied to that of MPs. Funny how one day people are calling for the senate to be abolished, and the next we’re giving a senators raise.
For more irony, the federal Parliamentary Budget Officer just released Labour Market Assessment 2014, a report that reflects my tax guy’s findings: wages and compensation have been stagnant across Canada since 2008, despite an increase in labour productivity (ie: we’re working more for less). But all is not lost – the report also indicates the nation’s top earners continue to do just that, widening the disparity between the “one percent” and, well, everybody else.
(The same report also states the much ballyhooed “labour skills shortage” has been largely over hyped. Yet the Temporary Foreign Workers program continues.)
Meanwhile, here in the West, the word “entitlement” is being bandied about quite a bit lately, particularly in relation to recently resigned Alberta premier Allison Redford, who racked up quite a travel bill on the public dime, and was in the process of having a luxury penthouse built for her and her son in a building owned by the province. In B.C., MLAs too have been receiving criticism for using the public purse to bring their respective others on trips. Or, in the case of the BC NDP’s Jenny Kwan, using public funds intended for a government-contracted charitable organization. Apart from being publicly shamed into paying back excessive travel expenses, don’t expect any disciplinary action for Kwan or Liberal House Speaker Linda Reid.
In the newsroom, you’ll often hear the exclamation/lament, “I’m in the wrong job!” Easy to say, I know, when you haven’t walked a mile in another person’s shoes.
I hope to have my taxes done shortly, a portion of which I’m sure will be covering those salaries in the House, a different world where healthy pay raises, perks and pensions are still reality.
