Increase Politician's Salaries

Our dear leaders may just need a pay raise

Politicians have a bad reputation these days. Most of the politicians of today can be categorised as either bland, incompetent, heartless, power-hungry, or corrupt. Gone are the days of inspirational or even good leadership. I believe that part of the solution to this morose political class lies in one simple change: paying politicians more.

In the UK, the Prime Minister is paid around £190,000 per annum, which, granted, places him in the 99th percentile of pre-tax income in the country. However, he is quite literally the head of the government, de facto the most powerful person in the land (at His Majesty the King’s will and pleasure, of course). Meanwhile, the head of HSBC receives over £6 million compensation per annum while being, I would argue, slightly less important than the head of government. The President of the US (the current one being somewhat of a statistical aberration, Qatari planes, lawsuit settlements and all) is paid $400,000 per year while commanding the largest economy and military the world has possibly ever seen. At the highest level of the American private sector, making ten times that would be laughably low.

The fact is that those elected to high office are at the top of their fields. They are educated, well-connected, and exist in influential circles, while being paid comparatively pitiful salaries. They are very aware of the affluence they could obtain were they in the private sector. Of course, then, the worst of these politicians will try to see what they can scrape out of the treasury, what little hidden commission they can obtain out of a public deal, or what bending of the rules will get them a publicly-funded private butler (cf. the National Rally in France). 

Paying politicians more would limit the incentives to cheat and make the risk/reward balance tip in favour of, you know, not stealing. I would even argue that it is legitimate to pay the decision-makers, those who make the rules in the name of the People, rates that are not dwarfed by those of high-level private sector jobs. Why should a president or prime minister make as much as a corporate manager when they are quite literally in charge of leading a whole country? Why should the minister of finance not be paid as much as a finance bro two years out of university, when they are making the rules which Jake follows? 

An added benefit would be that, once out of office, we wouldn’t be inundated with politicians’ never-ending yearly book tours, or their Netflix specials, or even have to hear about the cruises they take on their billionaire friends’ yachts. Paying them more while in office would limit the cheapening of that office and the monetisation of their status and contacts once they are out.

Another benefit of paying politicians more would be, very simply, a better stock of politicians. The ‘political elites’ are not a fixed body à la the aristocracy of yesteryear. It is, in theory, a body accessible through merit, which should allow the brightest to emerge. However, there is a double problem. 

First, lower wages in politics reduce the diversity of the political class. Those born into privilege will have an easier time having their merit recognised due to their access to education and connections. The precariousness of political office, hinging on elections whose results are uncertain, further reduces the pool: If one doesn’t have the resources, putting everything on hold to campaign for a relatively poorly-paid post is a risky gamble — much less so if one already has a million in the bank. 

Second, those with the intelligence, social skills, even maybe the empathy and competence necessary for public office are made to choose between lucrative careers in the private sector or poorly paid, poorly regarded jobs in the public sector. Many of those who could have been great politicians will flee the public sphere, reducing the pool of electables to the few selfless public servants and the many driven mainly by powerlust. 

Perhaps the price of better governance is, in part, one of numbers. Paying our elected officials more will lead to a less corrupt, larger, and probably brighter pool of leaders. The price of giving a pay raise to politicians is, in the greater scheme of things, negligible — maybe the price of a fighter jet per year. And 30 years down the road, we might just like our leaders again.

Illustration by Kyla Biesty