Punjab Government on Thursday imposed a new development tax on the state’s lakhs of pensioners. The development tax, to be applicable on state’s all retired employees across, will have to shell out Rs 200 every month — that is Rs 2400 every year.
The tax, under the head of Punjab State Development Tax, will be deducted from the pensioners’ account at the time of issuing the pension.
The new tax will be applicable on the state government’s all retired employees — be it any Board or Corporation, or are direct pensioners of the state government. In fact, the state Finance Department has already issued a letter in this regard. The proposal was put forward by the state Excise and Taxation Department, which is the nodal agency for collecting the tax amount.
Notably in 2018, the Capt Amarinder Singh led Congress Government had levied the development tax on all the income tax payees of the State — covering only the Income Tax payees, including professionals, traders and employees.
The AAP-led State Government has been considering to impose the new tax since the past few weeks. On Thursday, the Finance Department issued a pending letter regarding the imposition of the tax on state’s pensioners.