PESHAWAR, May 4: The NWFP government has levied professional tax on the government employees in grade-6 and above.

The provincial auditor general told Dawn here on Saturday that his office had received a letter from the provincial finance department with the instructions that professional tax should be deducted from the government employees salary.

The Frontier government has for the first time introduced professional tax, however, the employees of grade-1 to grade-5 have been exempted from the tax.

Under the formula, all employees whose salaries fall in the range of Rs3,000 to Rs5,000 would have to pay Rs100 as professional tax annually.

Employees receiving Rs5,000 to Rs10,000 salary will pay Rs150, while the employees in the above scale will pay Rs200 professional tax annual-ly.

The Punjab government has already imposed professional tax on government employees, the auditor general office clarified.