Tax collectors have demanded that top officials of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) be paid a salary of Rs 1,32,000 per month.In a memorandum to the Sixth Pay Commission, the Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) Association has suggested that the post of the CBEC chairman be upgraded to that of principal secretary, and he be paid as much as the cabinet secretary.The association also demanded that CBEC be upgraded to a department, and the retirement age of officers be raised to 62 years.At present, the CBEC chairman gets a fixed salary of Rs 26,000 while the starting salary of an IRS officer, excluding other allowances, is Rs 8,000.Making a case for market-linked emoluments, the association demanded that the starting salary of an IRS officer be hiked to Rs 26,400 per month, which could up to Rs 1,32,000 per month for members who should be ranked at par with a secretary in the central government.CBEC, which currently has a cadre of 2,130 officers, collected Rs 2,40,000 crore in 2006-07 as customs, central excise and service tax, and is expected to mop up Rs Rs 2,79,000 crore during 2007-08.
