Three of 25 ministers are non-filers

ISLAMABAD: Three of the twenty federal ministers are non-filers of annual tax returns, according to the fourth parliamentarians’ tax directory for year ended 30 June 2016 released by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Thursday.

This means that these ministers paid no tax as per the directory. They included Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir, Housing and Works Minister Akram Durrani and Ports and Shipping Minister Hasil Bizenjo. Filing of tax returns even by those who have paid no tax at all is mandatory under the law.

Among the filers of returns, Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar is the highest tax payer, who contributed Rs4,617,328 followed Khawaja Saad Rafique who paid Rs3,983,491.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has a share of Rs2,659,183 followed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who paid Rs2,524,213.  All the nine ministers of state were filers of returns and paid various amounts of tax.

Federal Minister Khawaja M Asif contributed Rs831,986 in addition to Rs443,992 by the Association of Persons (AOPs) of which he is a member. Similarly Pir Sadruddin Shah has a share of Rs204,057 in addition to Rs510,548 as AOPs member.

Besides, Rana Tanvir Hussain contributed Rs262,874, Kamran Michael Rs190,451, Murtaza Jatoi Rs278,307, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan Rs1,192,618, Riaz Pirzada Rs111,880, Birjees Tahir Rs109,036, Zahid Hamid Rs402,406, Sikandar Bosan Rs869,813, Ahsan Iqbal Rs82,440, Sardar Yousaf Rs247,773 and Lt-Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch Rs113,002.

Of the ministers of state, Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry contributed Rs177,860, Maryam Aurangzeb Rs50,181, Anusha Rehman Rs97,906, Saira Afzal Tarar Rs78,531, Jam Kamal Khan Rs4,017,743, Abid Sher Ali Rs86,536 and Usman Ibrahim Rs106,637.

Balighur Rehman paid Rs554,114 while Rs8,184,469 by the AOPs. Pir Hasnat has a share of Rs4,615,179 and Rs1,484,391 by the AOPs.

Since five advisers and nine special assistants to the prime minister are unelected, the tax, if any, paid by them is not reflected in the directory that only contains the details of federal and provincial legislators.

The directory noted that it has been tabulated from returns filed manually and electronically (till July 26, 2017). Manually filed returns have been entered into the system.

The finance minister said that in his foreword that public trust and accountability across the board are the hallmarks of any strong democracy.

The actions of public representatives in any democracy serve as an example for its citizens. Similarly, tax compliance by MPs plays an important role in promoting a culture of tax compliance in any country, he said.

Dar wrote that studies have shown that citizens exhibit a higher motivation to pay taxes when their public representatives act as role models by being tax compliant.

In order to fulfill its commitment to transparency and accountability, the government published a tax directory of the MPs for the tax years 2013, 2014 and 2015.

This step was widely welcomed and appreciated as a measure to introduce greater transparency and promote a culture of tax compliance in the country, he said.

In line with the tradition of the last three years, the finance minister stated, a similar effort has been made to publish a tax directory of the MPs for the tax year 2016. The directory contains tax details of senators and federal and provincial lawmakers. Dar appreciated the efforts of the FBR for compiling and publishing the tax directory.