POLL-WARY CM EXTENDS TAX EXEMPTION

Employees drawing a salary of Rs 5000 or less per month will now be exempted from paying professional tax.Announcing this on Friday, the chief minister's office said the decision would help lakhs of small employees in private industries in the skilled and semi-skilled sectors. It is learnt the department had put forward a proposal to hike the tax but the chief minister rejected the proposal.Apparently with an eye on elections, the chief minister told the department that putting more burden on the middle-class now would not be the right step and hence there was no question of increase in tax for any category.Presently, employees drawing a salary of Rs 1500 per month and any dealer or trader whose annual turnover is less that Rs one lakh per month are exempted from paying professional tax. This decision will also benefit large number of government employees – www.timesofIndia.com