Taxmen get 160% less pay than court officials

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

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

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

The details showed that the gross salary of a grade-18 officer was roughly Rs115,000 a month. It is inclusive of Rs23,000 two allowances as performance allowance and fixed FBR incentive. The FBR’s special allowances were equal to 20% of the officer’s gross salary.

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The FBR is supposedly one of the earning hands of the 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. 

A private secretary of the SC in grade 18 - who falls in the category of support staff gets a Rs298,000 monthly salary. The court's grade 18 officer salary was Rs183,000 or 159% more than the salary paid to a tax collector on the same scale. The SC officer is also getting two judicial allowances worth Rs170,000, which is equal to 57% of his gross salary, according to the details.

The taxmen felt aggrieved due to the government’s decision to give 150% executive allowance to the employees serving in the federal secretariat. But the FBR’s top management could not plead the case of its officers in front of the prime minister and instead tried to take a small pie out of direct tax collection.

Inflation in Pakistan skyrocketed to six decades’ highest level of 36.4% in April, further squeezing the purchasing power of people, particularly the salaried class, either in the government or in the private sector. 

Tax officers, mostly serving in pay scales of 17 and 18, have started drafting leave applications for the period from May 8 to June 30. Taxmen claimed that at least 150 to 200 officers would go on leave with effect from May 8 if the FBR management and the government did not pay any heed to their plight.

The collective leave applications, or unwillingness to perform duties, may create more problems for the FBR, which has already suffered a revenue shortfall of Rs380 billion in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year.

The Board’s employees had been denied a special allowance equal to 150% of the basic salary of government officers of grade 17 and above, approved by the federal cabinet, on the pretext of a pre-existing special allowance. However, the FBR’s performance allowance has remained frozen since 2015 and it has been reduced to effectively 20-30% of the basic pay.

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A deputy director working in grade 18 in the FIA is getting a Rs269,000 monthly gross salary, according to the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue’s prepared pay slip. The FIA’s grade 18 officer’s salary is 135%, or Rs154,000 higher than the salary drawn by the FBR officer.

The FIA officers are getting different types of allowances, which include a deputation allowance of Rs12,000, fixed travel and a daily allowance of Rs12,800, monthly investigation allowance of Rs36,800 and anti-organisation crime allowance of Rs30,600. The FIA’s allowances are equal to 39% of the gross monthly salary. 

Similarly, the grade deputy director working in the NAB is getting a Rs268,000 per month salary – Rs153,000 or 133% higher than the salary received by the FBR’s officer on the same pay scale. The NAB officer is getting a fixed Rs51,200 travel and daily allowance, Rs12,800 NAB hardship allowance and Rs35,000 monthly investigation allowance.

A grade 18 section officer working in the secretariat is drawing Rs177,000 gross monthly salary, which is inclusive of Rs73,000 new executive allowance. As a result, the secretariat group employee is now getting Rs62,000 or 54% higher salary than the taxman. This suggests that before the approval of the executive allowance, the FBR people were better off compared to the salaries received by the secretariat employees.