Perks to state ministers no more taxable, Bill passed

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 6

Amid objections by the SAD to the legislation to exempt the Chief Minister, ministers and the Leader of Opposition from payment of income tax on perks allowed to them, Punjab Assembly today passed the ‘East Punjab Ministers Salaries (Amendment) Bill-2019’, ‘Salaries and Allowances of Deputy Ministers (Amendment) Bill-2019’ and ‘Salary and Allowances of Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly (Amendment) Bill- 2019’.

When the Bills were tabled, SAD leader Bikram Majithia pointed out that since the state was already in poor fiscal state, the burden of paying tax on the perks of the ministers should not be levied on the government.

He said since ministers in the Congress government were financially sound, they should pay the entire tax. Even the MLAs should pay their own tax.

Hitting back at Majithia, Congress MLA Kuljit Nagra said he had already announced to pay the income tax on his salary. He asked the Akalis to follow the suit.

Finance Minister Manpreet Badal said today’s amendments to the Bills were just to correct an anomaly through which the perks had been made taxable. The ministers already pay tax on their salaries and allowances after a decision taken on March 19, 2018, in a Cabinet meeting.

Though the Chief Minister had earlier announced the decision to place tax burden on the salary and allowances of ministers on them, the entire Section 2-C of ‘The East Punjab Ministers’ Salaries Act, 1947’ was unintentionally removed while making the necessary amendment. As a result, all the perks also got included in the tax ambit of the ministers, etc, which in some cases resulted in the tax liability turning out to be higher than the salary itself.

Transparency in Public Procurement Bill passed

The Bill aims to ensure efficiency, economy and transparency, besides providing fair and equitable treatment to bidders in order to promote healthy competition and put in place mechanism to prevent corrupt practices. The Act also provides the requisite legal status to the ‘state public procurement portal’, making its use mandatory for public procurement, and envisages the creation of procurement facilitation cell. It covers the procurement of not only goods but also services and works in a single, comprehensive legislation, besides recognising Swiss Challenge as a method of procurement with an objective to promote innovativeness, creativity and uniqueness in finding everlasting solutions to the persisting problems of society.

Anomaly: CM’s salary Rs 3lakh, tax Rs 17 lakh

The Chief Minister's tax bill on perks has been found exceeding his salary. Manpreet said the CM's annual salary was Rs 3 lakh but his income tax liability on perks had been pegged at Rs 17 lakh