ISLAMABAD: Taxman is getting 135 percent to 160 percent less salary compared to an officer working in same pay scale in Supreme Court and two government investigation agencies, discrimination that is adding fuel to fire at time of six-decade record high inflation.

Comparison of pay slips of grade-18 officers working in Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), top court, National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Secretariat Group showed that tax officer was getting lowest salary compared to his peer grade officers working in other departments.

Unlike any performance-based incentive system, government at least on paper, implements uniform pay scale for all branches. But nearly five-dozen departments and organisations are now getting higher than standard salaries, including Parliament, Presidency, PM’s Office and armed forces.

Details showed that gross salary of grade-18 officer was roughly Rs 115,000. It is inclusive of Rs 23,000 two allowances as performance allowance and fixed FBR incentive. FBR’s special allowances were equal to 20 percent of officer’s gross salary.

FBR is supposedly one of earning hands of government but due to its poor performance, deep-rooted corruption and heavy dependence on indirect modes of taxation, there are few who publicly advocate for an increase in their salaries, at par with other government departments.

Private Secretary of SC in grade 18 who falls in category of support staff gets Rs 298,000 salary. Court’s grade 18 officer salary was Rs 183,000 or 159 percent more than salary paid to tax collector on same scale. SC officer is also getting two judicial allowances worth Rs 170,000, which is equal to 57 percent of his gross salary, according to details.

Taxmen felt aggrieved due to government’s decision to give 150 percent executive allowance to employees serving in federal secretariat. But FBR’s top management could not plead case of its officers in front of Prime Minister and instead tried to take small pie out of direct tax collection.

Taxmen claimed that at least 150 to 200 officers would go on leave with effect from May 8 if FBR management and government did not pay any heed to their plight.

Published in The Daily National Courier, May, 08 2023

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