Capt. Amarinder Singh.  

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and his Ministers on Thursday announced that they would voluntarily pay their own income tax, which at present is being given from the State exchequer.

The development comes within days of Capt. Singh suggesting that elected representatives of the State, including Ministers and MLAs, pay their own income tax.

The announcement followed a personal appeal by the Chief Minister during a meeting of the State Cabinet here, an official spokesperson said.

With respect to MLAs, Capt. Singh had said that decision on their self-payment of income tax would be taken after receiving their feedback on the proposal.

‘Give up power subsidy’

The tax is currently being paid by the government and draining the exchequer, Capt. Singh had said on Tuesday.

Punjab is probably the only State in the country where the government paid taxes for all Ministers and MLAs, he had said.

He had pointed out that the tax being paid by the State government in this regard stood at Rs. 11.08 crore. While Rs. 10.72 crore was being spent on payment of income tax of the MLAs, the remaining was for the Ministers, Capt. Singh had said.

The Chief Minister has also been appealing to members of the Congress in Punjab and rich farmers to give up their power subsidy in the State’s larger interest.