Pay our ministers more

Israeli governments took quite a few ridiculous and damaging decisions over the years. The recent decision to cut the salaries of ministers and deputy ministers by 5% will be remembered as one of the most idiotic and populist ever.

The salary of an Israeli minister is low by any international or local standard: The gross monthly wage is 33,500 (roughly $8,000), which works out to a net wage of NIS 18,000 (roughly $4,500) per month. This is less than the salary of a port employee, less than the wage of a mid-level bank official, and much less than the salary of a talented high-tech worker.

At such low salary levels, we won’t find talented and educated people who would want to leverage their career in order to head a government ministry. With such low wages, government service will only attract idealists or power-hungry politicians with personal ambitions, or alternately, convinced thieves such as former Finance Minister Abraham Hirschson. Yet there are very few idealists out there, and God save us from the thieves.

There used to be different times in Israel. An era of pioneering with modest prime ministers and modest ministers. Leaders such as Ben-Gurion, Sapir, Begin, and Burg. That era ended, for better or for worse. Today, bright individuals usually stay away from the political sector (with a few exceptions) and turn to the business sector. They feel contempt for politics because of its lowly image and lowly compensation; the two go hand in hand.

Had government ministers and Knesset members cared about the public interest, rather than their own image, they would have decided to raise the salaries of ministers significantly. The reasoning for this is as follows: When the salary of an Israeli minister would compete, at least to some extent, with the salary of a CEO in a corporation, the quality of those joining the political race will greatly improve. Israelis in their 40s and 50s, at the peak of their earning power, will seriously consider going into politics and joining the government. Wages are not the only reason, but they are an important one.

Learn from Singapore

A short while after Barack Obama was sworn-in as the US president, he ordered not to raise the salaries of his cabinet members and senior administration officials. The order only applied to those making more than $100,000 per year, and because of the minimal inflation it immediately turned into a dead letter.

Obama made sure not to repeat it, and it was no coincidence: even with the relatively high salary levels of the American administration, not too many people are interested in the senior posts, and many of them remain unmanned.

In Singapore, legislators have always known that one of the basic guarantees for an uncorrupt administration is an appropriate salary level for top officials, and therefore ministers make plenty of money. In Britain, on the other hand, hypocrisy reigns supreme and officials save money on ministers’ wages, and therefore we see corruption scandals exposed there regularly. Had ministers in Her Majesty’s government earned as much as Singaporean government ministers, they would not be submitting phony expense bills for tens of thousands of pounds.

Some of you will say that by cutting ministers’ salary, the government is showing “personal example” – but to who exactly? After all, the deal between the Histadrut labor union federation and the government included agreement on not cutting the salaries of public sector workers. Even if the message of “personal

example” had any importance, it is highly insignificant compared to the need to attract capable and talented individuals to the world of public and political service.

By cutting ministers’ and deputy ministers’ salaries, the Treasury will save a gross amount of one million shekels per year, or a net amount of NIS 500,000. This is a ridiculous and insignificant sum. One wise decision by one wise minister can save a hundred-fold, if not more, to the State. And if the Israeli government wishes to give “personal example” of budgetary cuts, it can go ahead and cut the number of government ministries by half.