The Punjab cabinet on Monday cleared the decks for its members to pay their own Income Tax beginning March 2018. The draft amendment Bills for relevant changes to ‘The East Punjab Ministers’ Salaries Act, 1947 and ‘The Salaries and Allowances of Deputy Ministers, Punjab Act, 1956’ will be presented in the Budget Session of the Assembly, commencing on Tuesday.
Being in the rank of Cabinet minister, the Leader of Opposition will also come under the ambit of the new legislation, said an official spokesperson.
While disclosing this, a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said that the Cabinet decided to omit Section 2-C of ‘The East Punjab Ministers’ Salaries Act, 1947 and Section 7-A of ‘The Salaries and Allowances of Deputy Ministers, Punjab Act, 1956′, to facilitate the change. In a landmark decision, the Cabinet had, on 15 February, 2018, passed a unanimous resolution to make this vital change, which will help generate considerable savings in the state exchequer.
At present, payment of income tax of the CM and all Cabinet and state ministers is done from the state exchequer under the provisions of Section 2-C of “The East Punjab Ministers Salaries Act, 1947”.
In addition to this, the payment of income tax of the deputy ministers is also done from the state exchequer under the Section 7-A of “The salaries and allowances of deputy ministers, Punjab, Act 1956’.