I refer to the Channel News Asia article on 8 June exhorting higher income earners to donate more:
- Those earning less than $1000 belongs to the bottom 10% income group (link).
- The highest income participants in the Individual Giving Survey cited in the article gave less than 1.8% of their pay.
The 2011 white paper benchmarked ministerial pay to the median income of the top 1,000 citizen earners, but with a 40% discount to “signify the sacrifice that comes with the ethos of political service”. The annual salary of the MR4 entry grade for Ministers is $1,100,000. As the paper estimates the annual salary package to be 20 months, the monthly pay of a MR4 Minister is $55,000 ($1,100,000 / 20 months). This places the MR4 salary grade at twice* the average monthly household income of the top 10% income group, which earned $26,622 in 2011.
*$55,000 / $26,622 = 2.07
Using 1.8% as a benchmark, do our ministers donate more than $19,800 ($1,100,000 * 1.8%) every year?
