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Anger; new income tax measure takes toll on Judges salary

Anger is brewing in the judiciary over the impact of mid-year tax measures on the salaries of judges.
It would be recalled that government announced a 35 percent tax on persons earning over 10,000 cedis as part of measures to rake in more revenue.
Even though the move has been hailed as forward looking, Gold News understands it is affecting the living conditions of judges.
Article 127(5) of the 1992 Constitution states;
“The salary, allowances, privileges and rights in respect of leave of absence, gratuity, pension and other conditions of service of a Justice of the superior court or any judicial officer or other person exercising judicial power, shall not be varied to his disadvantage.”
This constitutional provision, I am made to understand imposes an obligation on government to ensure that its policies do not unduly negatively affect the living conditions of judges but that seems not to be the case at this time.
Information I have gathered indicates  some judges are stewing in anger over the imposition of 35 percent on persons earning 10,000 cedis and above.
The move has gravely affected the salaries of most judges with some of them considering suing government over the move because they believe it violates Article 127(5) of the 1992 Constitution which regulates their conditions of service.
My sources tell me the tax measure has significantly eroded the salaries of Justices of the Superior Courts.
In some cases, the measure has wiped off over 2000 cedis from the take home pays of the judges, a variation that the Justices say is a disadvantage to them.
The Justices, I understand expected government to at least sit down with the judiciary to discuss the impact of the tax measure on them and putting in place mitigating measures before going ahead to implement them.
It is unclear whether the Judicial Service would take up the matter with the government with the assumption of the legal year but information available is that some judges
are seriously considering dragging government to the Supreme Court.

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