Comments on: What we earn, what we should earn

By: abb1

abb1 — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 22:16:26 +0000

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3477285.stm

One of Finland’s richest men has been handed a record 170,000 euros speeding ticket, thanks to the country’s policy of relating the fine to your income.

Jussi Salonoja, the 27-year-old heir to a family-owned sausage empire, was given the £116,000 ticket after being caught driving 80km/h in a 40km/h zone.

Helsinki police came up with the figure after tax office data showed that Mr Salonoja earned close to £7m in 2002.

If his penalty stands it will beat the previous record of almost 80,000 euros. …

By: Suvi

Suvi — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 17:03:04 +0000

#12 They also publish annual earned income, investment income, tax paid on each, percentage of tax against income, value of assets. It’s fairly open.

Your tax summary also includes all loan balances, and interest on loans.

They have a somewhat similar system in Sweden, and if you feel a need to do so, you can find the financial details of anyone who earns over 20.000 kr. Just ask.

By: SF

SF — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 14:17:45 +0000

The idea of equal pay for equal work is quaint from a logical point of view, but when one realizes that he has no idea of how to measure work objectively, he also realizes that the truism is not applicable to the real world at all.

By: Danny yee

Danny yee — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 12:30:51 +0000

I like the idea of the Finnish system, where the amount of tax everyone pays is published openly.

By: abb1

abb1 — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 15:13:49 +0000

C’mon, we are all relatives.

By: ingrid

ingrid — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 08:28:49 +0000

Otto – sure, you may ask, but I’m not going to tell you, since you are a complete stranger to me. My relatives, friends and coworkers would get an honest answer to that question (better: have received an answer to that question).

By: nobody_you_know

nobody_you_know — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 01:41:49 +0000

Jan. 11, 2001 (SmartPros)—In NLRB v. Main Street Terrace Care Center, the court found that an employer’s unwritten policy prohibiting employees from discussing their salaries violated federal labor law.

By: jet

jet — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 00:31:36 +0000

aaron_m,
Most states have “at-will” contracts. What the employer puts in the contract is just to give the employee a heads up on what will get them fired for sure. But being “at-will” means you can be fired for no reason at all.

By: otto

otto — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 23:41:27 +0000

Ingrid – may I ask, what do you earn?

By: aaron_m

aaron_m — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 22:55:11 +0000

Is it actually legal in the US to fire someone for discussing their salary even if they sign such a contract?

Can the employer put whatever kind of BS they want in such a contract?

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 21:53:53 +0000

Current place, folks don’t like to talk about numbers. Last place I worked, talking about salary was specified in the “employee agreement” as a fire-able offense. I’ve worked at several other places where discussing salary would get both parties fired. I am a software developer in the US.

By: Tom T.

Tom T. — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 21:15:17 +0000

I’m a federal employee. I’m paid according to the publicly-available GS schedule.

By: abb1

abb1 — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 16:04:01 +0000

A friend from Moscow visited recently and I asked her how much her husband makes. She said that he gets $2,000 (or something) each month ‘officially’, but “of course I don’t know how much more he gets every month in the secret envelope”. At that point I decided to change the subject.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 15:31:22 +0000

Well, strike my comment about the lawyers in NY- apparently some part of it hadn’t reset properly. It’s still a weird number, and they don’t give the 90% level, but it’s not as off as I thought. (If you check it out make sure the form totally re-sets!)

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 15:29:22 +0000

Well, it was giving me what seem like massively low numbers for lawyers in New York State. I understand, of course, that many lawyers are far from rich, especially by lawyer standards, but I find it hard to believe that the 90% for them is really 44K euro or whatever it was telling me, since the starting salary at public interest places (ie, some of the lowest paying jobs) is usually around 30+. Maybe it just doesn’t have enough info. As a side note, in Russia it’s quite common to ask people what their salary is, but it’s sometimes considered improper to ask people what they do since often enough what their job is could not, in normal ways, provide the level of money that they have.