CIVIL SERVANTS' SALARIES

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 39, 16 February 1931, Page 8

CIVIL SERVANTS' SALARIES

(To the Editor.) Sir, —In view of the statement that a j 10 per cent, "cut" in Civil Servants' satoies is about to take place I would like to suggest a scheme which I think would conform best to the principle of "equality of sacrifice." It is the principle upon which income taxation is based, namely, that the rate of tax increases as the income increases. Similarly, with salary reductions: the percentage of reduction should increase as the salary increases. It will easily be seen that a clerk who receives £300 a year would suffer far greater hardship by a 10 per cent, "cut" than would a head of a department who receives, say, £800. The suggested reduction should be based somewhat upon the following scheme:—Salaries not exceeding £300, 5 per cent.; £301-£33», 6 per cent.; £336----£3 SO, 7 per cent.; £381-.£425, 8 per cent.: £420-£470, 9 per cent.; £471-£515, 10 per cent; andj so on up to salaries of £1000, which shonld be reduced by 17 or IS per cent. An all-round reduction of 10 per cent, would obviously be unfair, and I think a distinct hardship to the young married men who receive £250----£3OO per annum. A "cut" of £25 to £30 would make it more than difficult for them to exist even at a respectable standard of living.—l am, etc., SLIDING SCALE.