For 40 yrs, UP ministers haven't paid own income tax; state govt pays for them

The existence of a four-decade-old law that makes the Uttar Pradesh government pay the income tax of all ministers has come as shocker to many, even though some political leaders say they never knew about it.

The Uttar Pradesh Ministers' Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Act, 1981 provides that the chief minister and his council of ministers don't dip into their own pockets to pay income tax.

The amount goes to the Income Tax authorities from the state exchequer - year and year.

"There is an act existing from 1981 during V P Singh's time. Whatever is being done is in pursuance with that Act, Uttar Pradesh Power Minister Shrikant Sharma said on Friday.

"In times to come, we will look into any suggestion about what best can be done in this regard," he added.

The law, enacted when Vishwanath Pratap Singh was the chief minister, has been in force during the terms of 19 CMs and about 1,000 ministers so far.

The chief ministers who saved on their taxes have been from across parties -- including Yogi Adityanath, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati, Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta, Rajnath Singh, Sripati Mishra, Vir Bahadur Singh and N D Tiwari.

For the last financial year, the state government paid Rs 86 lakh as the ministers' tax bill, a senior finance ministry official said.

A section of the Act says, "The salary referred to in sub-sections (1) and (2) shall be exclusive of the tax payable in respect of such salary (including perquisites) under any law relating to income tax for the time being in force, and such tax shall be borne by the state."