Interesting story in the Star Phoenix today that notes despite a cut in funding, the salary of Federation of Saskatchewan Indians (FSIN) Chief Perry Bellegarde remains untouched at $215,000.

My guess is that's a tax free figure as individual reserve chiefs salaries are typically tax free as the work is done primarily for reserve matters. My guess is Bellegarde's remuneration would be treated the same.

If you go on Ernst and Young's income tax calculator (click here) and plug in $354,000 in income, you'll find an after tax income of about $215,000 - the same amount Bellegarde would take home if he doesn't pay personal income taxes.

Now let's put $354,000 into perspective. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, is set to make a taxable salary of $327,400 this year and that's for serving 35 million Canadians. Sure that figure doesn't include his pension benefits but if that's your rebuttal I think you've missed the point. The number of Status Indians living in Saskatchewan (theoretically the people Bellegarde is supposed to represent) is only around 100,000 people.

Heck, even if Bellegarde's income is taxable, it's still higher than Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall; who serves a population of 1.1 million people.

What's the saying? Idle No More?

UPDATE: On Friday morning I received an email from a communications firm that indicated they represent FSIN Chief Bellegarde. The company indidicated that the Star Phoenix made an error when reporting the Chief's salary of "$215,000."

They informed me the true figure is actually $135,000 and indicated the larger figure of $215,000 includes travel and other expenses. 

However, the firm also confirmed the $135,000 is non-taxable income. Thus, if you plug it in the Ernst and Young calculator, you come out with a salary of about $210,000 for someone living off reserve and paying income taxes; a figure that's still higher than Sask Premier Brad Wall.

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