• Members of Congress may be getting an up to $6,600 raise this year.
• That's due to a provision in a must-pass funding bill that's set to get a vote this week.
• Rank-and-file lawmakers have been making $174,000 since 2009.

For the first time since 2009, members of Congress may be about to get a raise.

Under a provision tucked into a new bill to fund the government through March 14, lawmakers would be given a cost of living adjustment to their salaries — something that Congress has blocked every year for a decade and a half.

That could result in up to a $6,600 raise for rank-and-file members of Congress next year, according to a recent report from the Congressional Research Service.

Currently, most members of the House and Senate make $174,000 each year. Some congressional leaders make more than that, such as House Speaker Mike Johnson, who makes a $223,500 annual salary.

Though that $174,000 sum is well above the average household income, it hasn't kept place with inflation, and lawmakers in both parties have argued that it's not enough to keep up with the demands and responsibilities of the job, which can include maintaining two residences.

"If we want working class people who don't rely on independent wealth, to represent people in Congress, we have to make it work," Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York told Business Insider earlier this year.

"You have quite a number of members of Congress that sleep in their offices," Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah told BI earlier this year. "In this day and age, it makes sense to have people that feel that they can serve, and still be able to sleep in a home at night."

If Congress hadn't blocked annual cost of living adjustments since 2009, rank-and-file lawmakers would be making $217,900 this year, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Earlier this year, a group of current and former lawmakers filed a class-action lawsuit to recover money that they would have made if their wages hadn't, in their view, been "unconstitutionally suppressed."

Increasing lawmakers' salaries has long been politically unpopular, and the inclusion of the provision is already leading to some opposition from more politically vulnerable members.

Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat who represents a GOP-leaning district in Maine, said in a statement on Wednesday that he wouldn't vote for the government funding bill unless a pay freeze was reinstated.

"Members of Congress earn more than 90 percent of Americans," Golden said. "If any of my colleagues can't afford to live on that income, they should find another line of work."

If Congress fails to pass the bill by Friday, the federal government will shut down due to a lack of funding.

• Salaries make up around 75% of a startup's operating expenses, per an analysis by Kruze Consulting.
• The consultancy analyzed 450 VC-backed startups' payroll records to reveal employee salaries.
• An early-stage CEO makes around $132,000, while their technical cofounder is often paid more.

CEOs of American startups are seeing their salaries drop as the venture capital industry's cash crunch lingers.

Kruze Consulting, which provides accounting services to early-stage, VC-backed companies, released a study showing that the average seed-stage founder who is also a startup CEO makes $132,000 a year. This is down from $142,000 in Kruze's 2023 study.

The consultancy recently analyzed 450 of its seed-stage startup clients' payroll records to determine the average base salary for different jobs at early-stage companies. Kruze's study says that employee compensation accounts for around 75% of the total operating costs for its startup clients.

In addition to the base salaries analyzed by Kruze, equity is an important part of a startup employee's total compensation that can mean a financial windfall if a company is successful. The salaries in Kruze's study do not include equity-based compensation.

Kruze identified three buckets where seed-stage startups were likely to spend more money on talent: founders, early employees, and consultants. The study provided more detailed information on founder and early employee pay while noting that the average early-stage startup in its review spends 12.5% of its operating costs on consultancies.

Kruze also analyzed the one-time costs associated with hiring, such as equipment and training.

Founders and executives

The average seed-stage founder is likely to be making less than what other people on the leadership team are making. A technical co-founder acting as the startup's chief technology officer earns, on average, a slightly higher salary, at $134,000.

The chief operating officer and chief product officer make $135,000 and $149,000 per year, respectively.

The salary difference accounts for the greater technical expertise the CTO, COO, and CPO are likely bringing to the table, the Kruze study found.

Founder salary increases to an average of $183,000 when a startup closes its Series A funding round and bumps up to an average of $218,000 when a startup hits its Series B, according to Kruze's data.

Early employees

Kruze's data showed that after getting funding, most many-stage startups begin by hiring more engineers, followed by designers, product managers, salespeople, and marketers.

Engineers

Engineering compensation can vary greatly, depending on a person's technical expertise and experience with AI and machine learning and where in the country they're based. According to Kruze's analysis of its early-stage startup payrolls, engineers can make anywhere between $65,000 and $235,000 annually.

Sales

Startups usually start hiring sales teams after they achieve early product-market fit, the Kruze study found. Their total compensation typically includes a base salary plus commission, the latter of which could double base salary — which, depending on seniority and location, could be anywhere from $45,000 to $150,000.

Product and Design

Product and design teams can include a wide range of employees, some of whom are skilled engineers with experience working in Big Tech. Depending on seniority, job function, and location, Kruze's data showed that product team members could make anywhere from $70,000 to $185,000.

Marketing and Operations

Startups take varying approaches to building out their marketing and operations teams, with some hiring talent early on and others waiting until later in the company life cycle to bring people on. The Kruze study found that this contributed to a wide salary band for this group of employees — from $39,000 annually for a junior employee to as much as $325,000 for the top role.

Other costs

While payroll is a huge part of a startup's operating expense, salary isn't the only line item associated with hiring and retaining talent. The Kruze study found that early-stage startups spent an additional 10% of base compensation per employee on payroll taxes and required benefits, including unemployment, workers' compensation, and federal, state, and local payroll taxes.

Additionally, early-stage startups add another 15-25% of base compensation per employee on optional benefits, namely health insurance, in addition to 401K contributions, paid time off, and life insurance.

Equipment such as laptops and work stations cost startups between $2,500 and $3,000 per employee, Kruze's data found. Startups are also paying for software licenses, onboarding and training. Based on its analysis, Kruze recommends that startups looking to hire should budget between 25-35% higher than the base salary to account for additional costs, noting that certain cities and states might be more expensive than others.

Once a startup has raised its seed round, the perennial question becomes how much should the founders pay themselves and their first few employees? Kruze Consulting, a CPA firm that specializes in venture-backed startups, recently analyzed average salary ranges for over 450 seed-stage startups and shared that data with TechCrunch. The following averages are based […]

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• Rupert Grint has been ordered to pay £1.8 million (around $2.3 million) in taxes by the UK government.
• It stems from a tax dispute in the 2011 to 2012 tax year.
• An appeal brought forward by the "Harry Potter" star's lawyers was dismissed by a tribunal judge.

"Harry Potter" star Rupert Grint has been hit with a £1.8 million (around $2.3 million) tax bill after losing a legal battle related to his earnings in the 2011 to 2012 tax year, according to multiple British outlets.

Grint, 36, reportedly received £4.5 million (around $5.7 million as of today) from a company that managed his business affairs in the 2011 to 2012 tax year as "consideration for rights, records and goodwill" from his work.

The actor is said to have claimed this a "capital asset," meaning it was subject to a lower tax rate than it would have been if it had been classed as income — which His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, a department of the UK Government responsible for the collection of taxes, said it should have been.

Following an investigation, Grint, who played Ron Weasley in the eight-film "Harry Potter" franchise, was told in 2019 that he needed to pay an extra £1.8 million in taxes.

He later appealed the decision, but that appeal has now been dismissed by a tribunal judge, who said the fee "derived substantially the whole of its value from the activities of Mr Grint," which was "otherwise realised" as income, according to the reports.

Grint previously lost another, separate legal case in 2016 that resulted in him being denied a £1 million (about $1.3 million as of today) tax refund following an appeal.

During a hearing at the time, the actor reportedly said that his knowledge of his financial affairs was "quite limited," saying he deferred to his father and his accountant on tax returns.

Grint, who was 12 years old when he appeared in "Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone" in 2001, is thought to have earned around £24 million (around $30 million) from the eight-film franchise.

When asked about his net worth in 2018, he told The Radio Times, "I actually don't know how much I have. I couldn't even really guess."

• Intel's median employee pay rose 4% in five years, lagging behind other tech firms.
• Other tech companies like Nvidia and Microsoft increased pay by at least 12%.
• Intel plans to cut $10 billion in expenses and expand chip factories with new CHIPS Act funding.

Intel's median employee pay has only increased by 4% over the past five years, an analysis of annual proxy statements filed with the SEC showed.

In comparison, other chipmakers and Big Tech companies like Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, and Microsoft have boosted their average pay by at least 12%. The reports do not break down pay by gender.

In 2019, Intel's average employee pay was $96,300. It increased to $104,400 in 2021 before dropping to $96,400 the next year. In 2023, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger and higher-level staff took pay cuts while also instituting "thank you" bonuses in the form of one-time restricted-stock-unit grants for employees.

Besides stagnating pay, Intel employees have seen other setbacks. Executives at the American chipmaker have said it would cut $10 billion in expenses by restructuring its staff and foundry businesses. This fall, Intel cut about 15% of its employees through voluntary buyouts and layoffs and slashed staff perks, as Business Insider reported.

After a year of increased lobbying, Intel was awarded $7.9 billion in grant funding through the Department of Commerce's CHIPS and Science Act on Tuesday, with $1 billion expected to be given by the end of the year. The funding amount is $600 million less than previously anticipated.

Intel plans to expand its chip factories in Ohio and Phoenix with new funding and has already invested billions of its own money for construction. Industry analysts said that Intel's future financial success will depend on its ability to execute on time for its customers.

Qualcomm had reportedly expressed an interest in buying Intel, although the merger would face many operational and regulatory hurdles. Buyout interest has cooled down, Bloomberg reported.

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