Wages
In 2009, UK City minister Lord Myners proposed that the pay and identity of up to 20 of the highest-paid employees at British companies should be disclosed. In the UK, employees outside the boardroom are currently granted anonymity about their pay deals. He also called for the pay of all employees to be banded in grades. In his interim report in July, David Walker suggested that bankers' pay levels should be disclosed in bands and that the number of staff falling in each band be included. However, it is unlikely in the UK that disclosure requirements will be made a legal requirement, with hopes being placed on recommendations being undertaken voluntarily.
Regulations in Hong Kong require banks to list their top earners – without naming them – by pay band.
In Norway, tax authorities annually release the "skatteliste" or "tax list"; official records showing the annual income and overall wealth of nearly every taxpayer.
In 2009, the Spanish government for the first time released information on how much each cabinet member is worth, but data on ordinary citizens is still private.
Read more about this topic: Transparency (behavior)
Famous quotes containing the word wages:
“When it comes to finances, remember that there are no withholding taxes on the wages of sin.”
—Mae West (1892–1980)
“The present war having so long cut off all communication with Great-Britain, we are not able to make a fair estimate of the state of science in that country. The spirit in which she wages war is the only sample before our eyes, and that does not seem the legitimate offspring either of science or of civilization.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“The more I see of democracy the more I dislike it. It just brings everything down to the mere vulgar level of wages and prices, electric light and water closets, and nothing else.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)