Salaries of Income Tax Officers and Judges Should be Decided by an Independent Panel and should be made at par with Other Nations
Imagine the moral dilemma a person has to go through who is in-charge of assets worth many millions and earns just a few thousands per month. This is a nightmare come true for personnel in the income tax department. Income tax officials in India are those government officials whose job profile allows them to access and scrutinise cash and related assets that are to the tune of millions. In the same light, there have been so many cases of these IT officials accepting bribes to either reduce tax fines or allow offenders to go scot-free!
The incentive to take bribe becomes much greater for our tax officials since their salaries are much lower than those of their counterparts in the rest of the world. ‘Clients’ can offer them bribes that can go up to hundred times their monthly take away salary. Talking in numbers, Indian IT officers at the highest level (at CCIT/DGIT level) draw around Rs.24,500 per month. An Income Tax officer normally manages to settle for Rs.12,000 and an Income Tax inspector merely gets a salary of Rs.10,500 per month. Contrast this with Japan where a tax compliance officer receives $31,000 a month. Similarly, a tax officer in US gets $48,100 (according to Bureau of Labour Statistics 2010-2011), in UK he/she gets £30,000 ($47,639) and a Singaporean tax officer draws $30,600-$39,720 (according to Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore). Even at PPP levels, these figures are more than for Indians.
The same goes for judges in India. A recent bill passed by the Parliament had increased the salary of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from Rs.33,000 to Rs.1 lakh month (equivalent to $2200), while for apex court judges, the salary has been increased to Rs.90,000 (equivalent to $2000) per month. However, a US district judge gets nothing less than $174,000 (as of 2009). The current salary for the Chief Justice in US is $18,625 per month, while the Associate Justices each make $17,825 per month. On an average, an American counterpart earns 8-9 times what an India judge earns!
The incentive to take bribe becomes much greater for our tax officials since their salaries are much lower than those of their counterparts in the rest of the world. ‘Clients’ can offer them bribes that can go up to hundred times their monthly take away salary. Talking in numbers, Indian IT officers at the highest level (at CCIT/DGIT level) draw around Rs.24,500 per month. An Income Tax officer normally manages to settle for Rs.12,000 and an Income Tax inspector merely gets a salary of Rs.10,500 per month. Contrast this with Japan where a tax compliance officer receives $31,000 a month. Similarly, a tax officer in US gets $48,100 (according to Bureau of Labour Statistics 2010-2011), in UK he/she gets £30,000 ($47,639) and a Singaporean tax officer draws $30,600-$39,720 (according to Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore). Even at PPP levels, these figures are more than for Indians.
The same goes for judges in India. A recent bill passed by the Parliament had increased the salary of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from Rs.33,000 to Rs.1 lakh month (equivalent to $2200), while for apex court judges, the salary has been increased to Rs.90,000 (equivalent to $2000) per month. However, a US district judge gets nothing less than $174,000 (as of 2009). The current salary for the Chief Justice in US is $18,625 per month, while the Associate Justices each make $17,825 per month. On an average, an American counterpart earns 8-9 times what an India judge earns!
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM Best B School India
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