Editor's note: Mr. Antler writes in response to a previous letter Tax surcharge needed for employees on sunshine list
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I read Robert Nelly's letter regarding the Sunshine List with dumbfounded amusement. Mr. Nelly is concerned with inflation without any understanding of inflation.
In 1996, the base year that introduced the Sunshine list, the value of $100000 in 1996 expressed in 2022 dollars is $52,648.
Since the Sunshine limit hasn't been raised since 1996, in order to capture the same salary level today, the list would have to identify those making over $190,000.
Further, the idea that public servants should be dragged down as a way to control inflation is ridiculous. Instead, the focus should be on corporations, hundred millionaires and billionaires who funnel taxable income into offshore accounts or shadow banking.
Executive compensation compared to the average worker has increased from about 20:1 in the 70s to almost 650:1 today. The average Canadian executive makes over $10 million per year.
One of the sad things to see is how the working class tries to drag down their colleagues with resentful arguments filled with a complete disregard for math and reality rather than demand that they get a bigger piece of the pie, which is being consumed gluttonously by the C suite.
Mr. Nelly's letter is just another ignorant example that keeps workers down, and executives laughing.
Shame on him.
Darrin Antler,
I live in Ottawa, but born and raised in the Bay with a cottage on Nipissing.
