Cabinet meeting: The Madhya Pradesh cabinet has decided that state ministers will now be responsible for paying their own income tax, rather than having the state government cover this expense. The decision was taken by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav during the cabinet meeting held on Tuesday.
Notably, the rule, established in 1972, had the government paying the income tax of the ministers. 52 years later, the Mohan government changed this decision, making ministers responsible for their own income tax payments. Until now, the state government used to cover the ministers' income tax payments. However, following Mohan Yadav's decision, the ministers will now be responsible for paying their own income tax.
'No financial burden on government'
Chief Minister Yadav in a statement said the cabinet has taken a decision to strike off the 1972 rule, under which the state government was paying the Income Tax on the salaries and perks of ministers."All the ministers will bear their income tax themselves and the government will not have to bear any burden. Till now according to the rule of 1972, the burden of paying income tax of ministers and parliamentary secretaries was on the government but now all the ministers will pay the income tax on their salaries and allowances," Yadav said.
State Urban Administration Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya said during the cabinet meeting, the chief minister gave a suggestion that the ministers themselves pay their Income Tax. "The suggestion was accepted and hence the decision was taken in this regard," he said.
Government to save crores of rupees
Every year, the government spent crores of rupees paying the income tax of the Chief Minister and the ministers. Following this new decision, this amount will be saved in the government account.
According to a report, for the year 2023 to 2024, the state government had deposited more than Rs 79 lakh in income tax for 35 public representatives, including ministers and the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Over the past five years, the government has spent approximately Rs 3.5 crore on the income tax of ministers.
