May 1, 2010
Annual
salary: $2.75 million
The highest-paid politician by a staggering margin, Lee Hsien
Loong has often defended his extravagant salary. In a recent U.S.
trip, Loong highlighted how American politicians, because of their
low annual salaries, may have other interests — future pursuits,
perhaps — that could distract them from their public service. "Our
attitude is: you must pay for the quality of the person you want,"
he said of his high earnings. "You want the best person and you
want him to be properly motivated." Still, rhetoric aside, there
are many who justly suggest Loong's annual income is far too high
for governing Singapore, a tiny nation of less than five million
people. The P.M.'s salary of $2.75 million per year is more than 80
times that of the average Singaporean family.
http://money.ca.msn.com/savings-debt/gallery/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=24079420&page=10
Annual
salary: $309,800
Canadians are world class when it comes to grieving about taxes.
And who could blame us? Last year, according to the Fraser
Institute, the average Canadian family lost 42 per cent of their
household income to taxes. Because of this, the ire of the Canuck
taxpayer always falls on figures with public salaries, and no such
official earns more in Canada than Harper. Wherever you stand on
the P.M.'s annual salary — is it too much, or too little? — the
Conservative leader earns a wide margin more than the average
Canadian. As of the last census, full-time Canadian workers made an
average of only $41,401 each year.
http://money.ca.msn.com/savings-debt/gallery/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=24079420&page=4
March 4, 2010
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced in his recent throne
speech that the government will table legislation to freeze the pay
of the prime minister, cabinet ministers, MPs and senators. What
will this actually mean in dollar terms? Probably not much.
According to the Canadian Press, the 1.5 per cent wage increase
that the 308 MPs and 105 senators received last year amounted to a
total burden on governemnt of about $1 million. A one-year wage
freeze is not likely to put much of a dent in the deficit or the
pockets of our representatives, especially considering how much
federal salaries have increased in the past 10 years. Here's a look
at the basics of federal salaries, and a comparison to what they
were in 2000 (calculations do not include non-taxable expense
allowances, pensions or travel allowances).
http://money.ca.msn.com/savings-debt/gallery/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=23577097