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| MP Legislative Assembly |
When
the Times of India reported earlier this year that the state treasury of the UP
Government had been bearing the income tax burden of the chief minister and
other ministers for years the Yogi Adityaraj government promptly announced that
the law in this regard would be repealed soon. True enough, an amendment was
soon introduced in the House and the law in question enacted during the era of
Late VP Singh was repealed. The Chief Minister and his ministers have now
started paying Income Tax from their respective pockets.
Later
the Times of India again reported that the UP was not the only state where
taxes of ministers and chief ministers were being paid by the state treasury.
In fact, according to its report, there are five more states where Income Tax
of the chief ministers and ministers are paid from the respective state treasuries.
The states are Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Himachal
Pradesh.
In Madhya Pradesh this has been continuing
since 1994. Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have been disbursing these taxes for
more than 50 years – since 1966 when the state of Punjab was bifurcated and the
states became separate entities. In Punjab the practice was discontinued in
2018 on orders of the new chief minister, Capt. Amarinder Singh. Chhattisgarh
continues to pay these taxes of its chief minister and ministers after it was
carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000.
Madhya
Pradesh government has not made any move to repeal the law that sanctioned
payment of the income tax of ministers and the chief minister from the state
treasury. This is despite the fact that the current chief minister is a
crorepati and there are as many as 187 MLAs who are likewise rich enough. The
Madhya Pradesh Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms has
reported that MLAs in the MP Assembly have on an average net asset of around 10
crore and asset of 114 Congress MLA on an average is 9.41 core.
The
chief minister and his wife are filthy rich having movable and immovable assets
worth more than Rs, 200 crore. And yet he wants the state to pay his Income
Tax. The ability to legislate on their own salaries and allowances has allowed
these aberrations to creep in to the system. Aberration is a mild word; in fact
it is a rip off. While MLAs have been periodically raising their salary and
allowances they have not taken care to modify this particular piece of
legislation that makes the state foot their tax bills. According to information
available on the internet, the salary of a MLA of Madhya Pradesh is Rs. 2.50
lakhs per month. Besides the salary, there are other allowances and
perquisites. All this makes them virtually living on the people of this
supposedly backward and poor state.
If
they happen to have any shame the chief minister should have a bill moved
immediately in the Assembly for repeal of the law that makes the state treasury
bear the burden of income tax of these multi-millionaires.
Other
states like Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh also need
to critically examine the matter and repeal the relevant laws to lighten the
burden on their respective tax payers.
*Photo from internet
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