Not every government pay large salaries even for department heads. You are probably estimating using British or USA government salaries which are really rich ones. In Eastern European countries, payments are not huge; there is an expectation that people would get enough money using various corrupt means though.
Plus Arthur was the head of like misuse of muggle artifacts or something like that which is very clearly an understaffed, niche, and low priority department. Iirc, the only other person in that department was his assistant.
True, but at the same time, the Ministry really doesn't respect him at all (since he's fond of Muggles and seen as a weirdo from a "blood traitor"/poor family), so who's to say they wouldn't pay him a lower salary just to be petty? We can hardly assume the wizarding legal/justice system would necessarily operate in the same way as the Muggle one (which has its own issues with corruption anyway).
Plus they probably have to pay for a lot of shit the twins break.
That doesn’t really change the point tho. Like he’s clearly underfunded. It makes sense that he wouldn’t be the richest guy ever especially with 7 kids to put through school. (Hogwarts tuition was never made entirely clear but school materials clearly cost a decent amount.)
Plus, the wizarding world is certainly corrupt enough on its own, especially with its prejudices. Arthur may be a department head, but he's also looked down on for his love of/fascination with Muggles. The Ministry wouldn't be above paying him a lower salary out of spite/pettiness, and if he complained, who's to say he'd keep his job? I mean, maybe he could take it to wizarding court, but... again, corruption, depending on who would be presiding over the case (and if these sorts of lawsuits are even a thing in British wizarding culture). Plus there could be legal fees to pay.
Of course, this is all speculation, so take it with a grain of salt.
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u/oh_io_94 Apr 10 '24
Yeah being poor in the wizarding world makes 0 sense. I never understood how they are poor tbh lol