Pulse Consultant study: Sindh on top in income tax collection

ISLAMABAD: Sindh leads with 45 percent share in the total income tax collected nationally by the FBR whereas Punjab follows with 35 percent, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 3 percent and Balochistan 2 percent.

The federal capital beats KP and Balochistan in tax collection by contributing 15 percent of the total share, three times more than the joint contribution of the two provinces. The Pulse Consultant study, ‘Insights from Income Tax Report by FBR’, shows that against its 52 percent share in the total population of Pakistan, Punjab contributed just 35 percent of the total income tax collected during the year ending June 2018. While Sindh’s share of population is 23 percent, it contributed a substantial 45 percent of the total income tax collection. KP’s population is 17 percent of the total national population but its share in income tax collection is a meagre 3 percent. Balochistan’s population is 6 percent of the total population while its share in tax collection is only 2 percent.

Meanwhile, the federal capital did extremely well with a 15 percent contribution in income tax collection while its population is only 1 percent of the total.

When it comes to the ranking by city, Karachi tops the list with its 41.39 percent income tax contribution. If one leaves out Karachi, the income tax contribution for the rest of Sindh is less than 4 percent.

After Karachi, it's surprisingly neither Lahore nor Faisalabad, Gujranwala or Sialkot but Islamabad that ranks second. It provides a healthy 19.90 percent share of the total income tax collected in the year under study. Lahore, with a 19.56 percent share, ranks third. The major chunk of income tax is contributed by three cities: Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore.

The contribution of other cities is: Rawalpindi 3.43 percent, Faisalabad 1.71 percent, Multan 1.65 percent, Peshawar 1.33 percent, Quetta 0.99 percent, Gujranwala 0.77 percent, Dera Ghazi Khan 0.62 percent, Hyderabad 0.57 percent, Sialkot 0.44 percent, Sukkur 0.35 percent, Sheikhupura 0.25 percent and Bahawalpur 0.24 percent.

According to the Pulse Consultant study, the above 15 cities contributed 94 percent of the total income tax collection. The remaining 465 cities and towns contributed only 6 percent of the overall tax collection.

The following is the share of the top 15 national level markets in income tax collection: Saddar, Karachi, 36.7 percent; Blue Area, Islamabad 19.01 percent; Multan Road, Lahore 5.19 percent; Market Estate Avenue, Karachi 2.95 percent; Saddar, Multan 2.86 percent; Saddar Lahore, 2.53 percent; Karkhano Market, Peshawar, 2.51 percent; Raiwind Bazar, Lahore 1.99 percent; Ferozepur Road, Lahore 1.92 percent; The Forum, Karachi 1.58 percent; Saddar, Peshawar 1.57 percent; Jodia Bazar, Karachi 1.46 percent; Main Boulevard Gulberg 1.42 percent; Saddar, Rawalpindi 1.08 percent and Wapda Town, Lahore 0.78 percent.

As for the size of taxpayers by category, the Pulse Consultant survey reveals that 58 percent of the total income tax is paid by companies followed by 21 percent by the non-salaried class, 15 percent by the salaried class and 8 percent by Association of Persons.

Filers by type include 54 percent from the non-salaried class, 15 percent from the salaried class, 8 percent from Association of Persons while 2 percent of filers represent companies.