Performance-based incentives: Govt plans to slash revenue staff perks
KATHMANDU, DEC 21 -
The government is all set to cut down performance-based incentives being awarded to revenue administration employees to a maximum of 100 percent of their basic salaries from the existing 200 percent.
Employees of the Inland Revenue Department and the Department of Customs have been receiving incentives up to 200 percent of their salaries since the fiscal year 2008-09 when Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai was heading the Finance Ministry in the then Maoist-led government.
The Cabinet’s Finance and Infrastructure Committee decided to slash the incentives although the Finance Ministry proposed its continuation.
A senior official at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said the government decided to slash the incentives as the salaries of civil servants have gone up significantly this year.
The committee, however, has decided to continue incentives being given to Civil Service Record Office employees. They are currently awarded incentives up to 100 percent of their salaries.
The proposal of implementing the incentive system in the PMO and the Auditor General’s Office is under consideration, according to the official.
As per the suggestion of the International Monetary Fund, the government first introduced the performance-based incentive system in 2006-07 in the Dry Port Customs Office and the Large Taxpayers’ Office. The Maoist-led government then expanded the system to all revenue offices under the Finance Ministry in 2008-09, and it was subsequently implemented in the Civil Service Record Office, Office of the Auditor General, Mid Hill Highway, Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and Parliamentary Secretariat.
The government has planned to implement the system in other offices, including the District Treasury Comptroller’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office.
Although employees of other offices protested the implementation of the provision in certain offices, the Finance Ministry has been continuing the system, saying that it has made a positive impact on revenue collection and helped curb corruption in revenue administration. But revelation of irregularities such as releasing imported goods without collecting duties weakened the finance ministry’s argument.
A customs office chief slashing the incentives would have a negative impact on employees’ performance. “It is halting back a regular facility,” he said.
Finance Secretary Krishna Hari Baskota said the ministry continued the system as its impact was visible in the performance of employees. The year when the system was implemented in all revenue offices in the FY 2008-09, the revenue collection increased to historic 34 percent and collection remained impressive at 25 percent the following fiscal year 2009-10 as the system continued.
In its assessment for the Nepal Portfolio Performance Review (NPPR) meet held in November, the government had boasted of the positive impact of the PBIS implementation in the Depa-rtment of Civil Personnel Records, stating that it brought about positive changes in both data update and service delivery.
Source: Kantipur
