KARACHI:
Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Asim Ahmad wrote to Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Monday, seeking to enhance the performance allowance of FBR employees to 150% of their basic salary.
The chairman’s notice comes after a four-day pen-down protest of FBR employees, who are seeking to remove the disparity in their salary structures with bodies such as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
The FBR chairman stated that FBR employees were excluded from the federal cabinet’s approval for a special allowance equal to 150% of the basic salary to government officials of grade 17 and above.
The chairman added that the decision to exclude FBR employees was made on the pretext of a pre-existing special allowance. However, he added that the FBR’s performance allowance has been “frozen to 20% of the basic pay since 2015". Contrary to this, employees of other departments are benefitting from the special allowance and other incentives.
He further added that the special allowance is equal to 100pc or 150pc of the employees of other departments, adding that this disparity in payment has resulted in the “demoralization of FBR employees, which may negatively affect their vital revenue collection efforts.”
The chairman requested the minister for finance and revenue to approve the submission of the summary to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for his approval.
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“In order to remove the disparity in the salary structure, it is proposed to move the enclosed summary to the prime minister seeking enhancement of the existing 'Fixed FBR Incentive' of employees to 150% of their basic pay in lieu of the FBR Performance Allowance,” the letter read.
The employees of the revenue authority had earlier lodged a 'pen-down strike' at Karachi's tax offices and other regional offices, demanding restoration of the allowance and ensuring other rights.
The protesting employees of the revenue authority demanded an immediate increase in the fuel allowance and salaries and restoring performance allowance, halted since 2015, for employees from grade 1 to 22.
The staffers made it clear on the authorities that their protest will continue until the approval of their demands.
The FBR employees, that also included lower cadre staff of the tax authority, were part of the protest.
They maintained that they were being discriminated against despite working very hard to meet the revenue targets.
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