With the Punjab government reeling from a severe financial crunch, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh came up on Monday with an austerity measure that isn’t likely to go down well with his colleagues: pay your own income tax.
The Chief Minister suggested that all elected representatives in the State, including Ministers and MLAs, should pay their own income tax.
The income taxes have hitherto been paid by the government, draining the exchequer of much-needed funds.
The Chief Minister said that Punjab was possibly the only State in the country to follow the system of the government paying taxes for all Ministers and MLAs. He pointed out that the tax being paid by the State government on this account stood at ₹11.08 crore.
In a meeting of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Fiscal Management, where the proposal was mooted by the Chief Minister, it was pointed out that while the bulk of ₹10.72 crore was for payment of income tax of MLAs, the rest was for the Ministers.
Mr. Singh also reiterated his appeal to party colleagues and rich farmers to give up their power subsidy.
