I’m not a fan of the high pay commission campaign – more because I haven’t seen one idea that seems enforceable and I won’t cover ground that Hopi Sen has covered in his post High Pay, No way… I believe there’s more to be gained from concentrating on eradicating low pay. However Polly Toynbee makes a very good point

A high pay commission would change the climate of what is socially acceptable by challenging the self-serving myths of mega-earners. The commission’s only power would be to take evidence and make recommendations to ministers. With powers to investigate, it would make transparent who is earning what and why, ending secrecy: information has transformative power. I would go further and make all income tax returns public documents. The initial shock would be salutary, as it threw daylight on earnings and wealth. When so few people know where they stand or what others earn, how can voters judge questions of fair distribution?

Politicians worry about alienation between people and their representatives after the exposure of MPs’ expenses brought revulsion and the loss of what little trust there was. “Them and us” resentment runs deep; just read the blogs to see the anger at “ordinary” professional incomes by those who earn less. When Alan Duncan stupidly called £64,000 “rations”, it was because he doesn’t know that over 95% of people earn less. How can people govern or know how to vote unless these basic facts are common knowledge? Research by the Fabians for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows how little people know, and how astonished they are to find out: it changes their views. Most people on £42,000 don’t feel rich because they don’t know they are in the top 10%.

A high pay commission would spread that knowledge far and wide. Objectors raise the problem of footballers, rock stars and Dyson or Branson entrepreneurs. But the vast majority of high earners work in hierarchies where they are not indispensable: if they fell under a Rolls-Royce, someone else would take over tomorrow. No one suggests some national pay scale of merit from street cleaner to superstar, but it’s time politicians stopped being bamboozled by bog-standard bankers blagging their way into billions “because I’m worth it”. Call their bluff, before the bubble blows up all over again. Polly Toynbee, The Guardian.

So whatever the pros and cons of a commission lets call their bluff.