本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛http://www.taxpayer.com/main/news.php?news_id=2550
CTF Vows to Fight Return of Gold-Plated Pensions
29% pay increases a smokescreen for re-instatement of retirement pension bonanza
No changes in compensation until after next election
2 May 2007
*********************************
http://www.taxpayer.com/main/news.php?news_id=2560
MLA Pay Hike a Smokescreen for Gold-Plated Pensions
In 2005, B.C.’s MLAs gathered behind closed doors, voted to give themselves a 15% pay increase and re-introduce gold-plated pensions that had been abolished just nine years earlier. Public outrage forced them to shelve the plan, but they weren’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. Fast forward to 2007 and Premier Campbell announces appointment of a three-person “independent commission” to review the whole pay and benefits question.
Lo and behold, two lawyers and a university professor recommend pay and benefit hikes even greater than what the politicians had. Salaries up 30%! Gold-plated pensions – you bet! And bizarre severance provisions that would pay an MLA their full salary for 15 months after leaving office were just some of the highlights.
Great news if you’re a politician. Not so great if you’re a taxpayer.
Why are MLA pay and benefits an issue in the first place?
......
Is that unreasonable? It puts BC MLAs in the top 7% of income earners. And the taxpayer-funded contribution to a RRSP for MLAs is greater than what is available for most in the private sector.
Nevertheless, the three-member commission’s report portrays MLAs as characters in a Charles Dickens novel: underpaid, downtrodden and unappreciated.
.......
How generous? Should this current crop of 79 MLAs last through to the 2013 election they would be eligible for a pension bonanza of $63-million to age 80 with taxpayers having contributed $4 for every $1 contributed by each MLA. 26 MLAs would be eligible for over $1-million in benefits while the premier would top out at $2.2-million.
It should be noted that the NDP Opposition has commendably said they will not accept these new benefits. Should they keep their word the pension trough would drop by $20-million. Moreover, one of the three commission members has come out publicly and said she finds the pension too rich and even suggested the report was changed when she was out of the country. The NDP Opposition should be demanding this ‘tainted’ report be shelved; yet their silence suggests they may yet themselves take the benefits and run.
At a time when most governments in Canada are seeking to clean up the culture of political entitlement; British Columbia is poised to entrench it further. It’s both shameful and an embarrassment. A 30% raise is outrageous; but re-introduction of gold-plated pensions that have fallen like dominos across the country borders on contempt for taxpayers.
Whatever is done, legislation must have an opt-out provision for individual MLAs who choose not to participate and no changes should take effect until after the next election. That way, politicians can justify the increases to the people who pay for them.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
CTF Vows to Fight Return of Gold-Plated Pensions
29% pay increases a smokescreen for re-instatement of retirement pension bonanza
No changes in compensation until after next election
2 May 2007
*********************************
http://www.taxpayer.com/main/news.php?news_id=2560
MLA Pay Hike a Smokescreen for Gold-Plated Pensions
In 2005, B.C.’s MLAs gathered behind closed doors, voted to give themselves a 15% pay increase and re-introduce gold-plated pensions that had been abolished just nine years earlier. Public outrage forced them to shelve the plan, but they weren’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. Fast forward to 2007 and Premier Campbell announces appointment of a three-person “independent commission” to review the whole pay and benefits question.
Lo and behold, two lawyers and a university professor recommend pay and benefit hikes even greater than what the politicians had. Salaries up 30%! Gold-plated pensions – you bet! And bizarre severance provisions that would pay an MLA their full salary for 15 months after leaving office were just some of the highlights.
Great news if you’re a politician. Not so great if you’re a taxpayer.
Why are MLA pay and benefits an issue in the first place?
......
Is that unreasonable? It puts BC MLAs in the top 7% of income earners. And the taxpayer-funded contribution to a RRSP for MLAs is greater than what is available for most in the private sector.
Nevertheless, the three-member commission’s report portrays MLAs as characters in a Charles Dickens novel: underpaid, downtrodden and unappreciated.
.......
How generous? Should this current crop of 79 MLAs last through to the 2013 election they would be eligible for a pension bonanza of $63-million to age 80 with taxpayers having contributed $4 for every $1 contributed by each MLA. 26 MLAs would be eligible for over $1-million in benefits while the premier would top out at $2.2-million.
It should be noted that the NDP Opposition has commendably said they will not accept these new benefits. Should they keep their word the pension trough would drop by $20-million. Moreover, one of the three commission members has come out publicly and said she finds the pension too rich and even suggested the report was changed when she was out of the country. The NDP Opposition should be demanding this ‘tainted’ report be shelved; yet their silence suggests they may yet themselves take the benefits and run.
At a time when most governments in Canada are seeking to clean up the culture of political entitlement; British Columbia is poised to entrench it further. It’s both shameful and an embarrassment. A 30% raise is outrageous; but re-introduction of gold-plated pensions that have fallen like dominos across the country borders on contempt for taxpayers.
Whatever is done, legislation must have an opt-out provision for individual MLAs who choose not to participate and no changes should take effect until after the next election. That way, politicians can justify the increases to the people who pay for them.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net