All Punjab ministers, led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, on Thursday announced their decision to voluntarily pay their own income tax, which is currently being paid out of the government exchequer.The announcement followed a personal appeal by the Chief Minister during a meeting of the state cabinet.With respect to the MLAs, the Chief Minister said the final decision on their self-payment of income tax would be taken after receiving their feedback on the proposal.The development comes within days of the Chief Minister suggesting that elected representatives in the state, including ministers and MLAs, should pay their own income tax.
The tax was currently being paid by the government and draining the exchequer, the chief minister had said.Punjab was probably the only state in the country to follow the system of the government paying taxes for all ministers and MLAs, Captain Amarinder had said, pointing out that the tax being paid by the state government on this account stood at Rs. 11.08 crore. While Rs. 10.72 crore was spent on payment of income tax of the MLAs, the remaining was for the ministers.The Chief Minister has also been appealing to party colleagues and rich farmers to give up their free power subsidy in the state’s larger interest.