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FBR releases 2018 tax details of parliamentarians, chief ministers

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ISLAMABAD: A tax directory of Pakistan's elected representatives for the year 2018 has been published by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

Prime Minister Imran Khan paid Rs282,449 in taxes during 2018, whereas the tax payments of his government for the same year are as follows:

Information and Broadcasting Minister Shibli Faraz paid Rs367,460
Human Rights Minister Dr Shireen Mazari paid Rs2,435,650
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi paid Rs183,900
Interior Minister Ijaz Ahmad Shah paid Rs58,120
Defence Minister Pervez Khattak paid Rs1,826,899
Law Minister Farogh Naseem paid Rs35,135,459
Planning Minister Asad Umer paid Rs5,346,342
Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan paid Rs1,046,669
Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed paid Rs579,011
Narcotics Control Minister Azam Khan Swati paid Rs590,916
Power Minister Omar Ayub Khan paid Rs26,055,517
States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) Minister Shehryar Afridi paid Rs183,900
Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Affairs Minister Ali Amin Gandapur paid Rs378,763
Religious Affairs Minister Noor-ul-Haq Qadri paid Rs3,506,009 as association of persons (AOP)
Communications and Postal Services Minister Murad Saeed paid Rs374,728
National Food Security and Research Minister Fakhar Imam paid Rs5,212,137
Industries and Production Minister Hammad Azhar paid Rs22,445 and Rs59,421,700 as AOP
Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood paid Rs231,730
Economic Affairs Minister Khusro Bukhtiar paid Rs624,292
Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Haider Zaidi paid Rs896,191
Water Resources Minister Faisal Vawda paid nothing
IT and Telecommunication Minister Aminul Haque paid Rs66,749
National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser paid Rs537,730 and Rs5,790,500 as AOP
Senate Chairperson Sadiq Sanjrani paid Rs1,363,414
Senate Deputy Chairperson Saleem Mandviwalla paid Rs1,591,722
State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan paid Rs430,695
According to the FBR, in 2018, former prime minister and PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi paid the highest tax of Rs241,329,362, whereas PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari paid Rs294,117 in taxes.

The FBR said the highest tax among the four provincial chief ministers was paid by Balochistan's Jam Kamal at Rs4,808,948, while Sindh's Murad Ali Shah paid Rs1,022,184 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Mahmood Khan paid Rs235,982.

However, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Bazdar did not pay any tax during this period.

Former president and PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari paid Rs2,891,455, whereas former Punjab chief minister and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif paid Rs9,730,545.

Shehbaz's son, Hamza, paid Rs8,705,368 in taxes.


Earlier, PM Imran's finance adviser, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, shared details about the tax paid by the parliamentarians, saying the elected provincial representatives paid Rs340 million in taxes in the same year.

Some 90 senators and 311 MNAs paid a total of Rs800 million in taxes, he added.

Shaikh said the FBR is "striving for transparency in the tax system", adding that the tax and audit systems were being automated and computerised.

"We wish to make the FBR's tax system transparent," he said, announcing that the institution had made two major decisions. "We are not bringing the tax audit under the control of any officer; it should not be so that a single officer selects the people of their choice in the audit.

"We are trying to have fewer people audited; we do not wish to audit a lot of people. This year, more than 10,000 cases have been selected for auditing," Shaikh noted, adding that less than 1% of the people would be audited for income tax.

The adviser stressed, however, that the salaried class as well as the beneficiaries of the tax amnesty scheme were not included in the audit. A 1.7% audit of sales tax would also be carried out, he said.

The adviser said people wished to be informed about taxpayers and, therefore, the details of those from 2018 "will be published today".

"The tax details of Pakistan's elected representatives will be published today [and] a tax directory of parliamentarians is being issued," he added.

"The government's basic philosophy is to collect taxes," he underlined, adding that the PTI regime wished for taxes to be collected in such a way that there were no undue hardships for the business community and no harassment of taxpayers.

Speaking of the industries, budget, as well as the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the economy, Shaikh said the taxes on raw materials were reduced to zero and the government maintained subsidies for industries despite challenging circumstances.

"The government is giving subsidies on electricity and gas to industries, as well as subsidies on loans," he said. "We took immediate steps to improve the economy but still did not choose to impose any new taxes when the Budget 2020 was announced.

"We are witnessing economic recovery after the coronavirus pandemic," he added.

"Pakistan's exports have increased" during the same period, the adviser emphasised, adding that the government had decided to increase the country's exports.

https://www.geo.tv/latest/308557-fbr-releases-2018-tax-details-of-parliamentarians-chief-ministers
 
As someone who pays more than 40 percent of taxes for whatever I earn, these numbers are ridiculously low.

Tax net needs to expand and it should start from these people.
 
As someone who pays more than 40 percent of taxes for whatever I earn, these numbers are ridiculously low.

Tax net needs to expand and it should start from these people.

Yes but my question is this - instead of publishing these numbers, why isnt FBR investigating?
 
People are confusing low tax liability with tax avoidance, if these individuals are taking advantage of deductions or tax credits allowed to them by law then there is nothing wrong with it. It is possible someone with a large tax liability does not have those deductions and credits available to them hence why their taxes are high
 
People are confusing low tax liability with tax avoidance, if these individuals are taking advantage of deductions or tax credits allowed to them by law then there is nothing wrong with it. It is possible someone with a large tax liability does not have those deductions and credits available to them hence why their taxes are high

Bhai Vawda aur Buzdar wali avoidance mujhay bhi sikha do.
 
As someone who pays more than 40 percent of taxes for whatever I earn, these numbers are ridiculously low.

Tax net needs to expand and it should start from these people.

Income tax rates in Pakistan are much lower but considering the benefits provided by the government against them they are still exorbitantly high. And you must also consider the high incidence of indirect taxation in Pakistan. Eventually the main casualty of all this is the salaried middle class which is also the main contributor to the overall tax collection. There is also wide disparity in the tax rates for different sectors. While these numbers don't show the taxable income against which these amounts have been charged, when such details have been disclosed in the past, the effective tax rates for most of these guys are usually a fraction of what a salaried middle/upper middle class Pakistani pays. The government needs to focus on broadening the tax base and making it more equitable instead of squeezing the very people who are already contributing. There is news of the PM forming committees for this but I don't expect these numbers to change a lot when the next year's numbers are published. For all of the PM's rhetoric about taxing the elite, year in and year out, barring a few, this lot continues to pay peanuts.
 
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The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) released its 2018 tax directory for parliamentarians on Friday.

The directory details the amount of taxes paid by provincial and federal lawmakers in the year 2018, personally as well as by the associations of persons (AOPs) they are members of.

Several parliamentarians have shared income as members of AOPs, considered a separate legal entity for taxing purposes, which means an AOP pays its own taxes.

How much each member has contributed to total tax paid by his AOP will vary depending on the profit-sharing agreement usually determined at the outset of formation. The FBR has only released total tax amounts paid by the AOPs some parliamentarians are members of, not their individual shares.

The first edition of the directory published by the FBR on its website was of tax year 2013, according to the foreword of the 2018 edition, which has been written by Prime Minister's Adviser on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.

The data shows that former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who paid in excess of Rs241 million in an individual capacity, was the highest tax-paying parliamentarian in 2018. Additionally, the AOP of which Abbasi is a member of, paid Rs769,169 in taxes.

Prime Minister Imran Khan's tax payment in the year 2018 increased by Rs178,686 from the year before to Rs282,449. Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif paid more than Rs9 million in taxes in 2018, while PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari paid Rs294,117.

PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari paid Rs2.8 million in taxes.

Among the lawmakers and officials who did not pay any taxes, according to the data, are Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda and Minister for Climate Change Zartaj Gul; MNAs Mohsin Dawar, Zain Hussain Qureshi (PTI) and Naz Baloch (PPP); PTI Senator Faisal Javed; PML-N Senators Shamim Afridi and Rana Maqbool; and Punjab CM Usman Buzdar.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah's tax payment amounted to Rs1,022,184 in an individual capacity, while his AOP paid Rs6.3 million. Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal paid Rs4.8 million in taxes and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan Rs235,982.

The lowest-paying parliamentarian in 2018 was PTI's Kanwal Shauzab, who paid a mere Rs165 as tax.

Minister for Industries Hammad Azhar paid Rs22,445 in taxes individually, while his AOP's tax amounted to Rs59.4 million. Minister for Religious Affairs Pir Noorul Haq Qadri paid taxes through his AOP, which collectively paid Rs3.5 million.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood paid Rs183,900, Planning Minister Asad Umar paid Rs5.3 million; Minister for Economic Affairs Khusro Bakhtiar's paid Rs624,292; and Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry paid Rs1,698,651 in addition to his share in an AOP, which paid a total amount of Rs75,000.

Senator and Minister for Information Shibli Faraz paid Rs367,460, while Minister for National Food Security Fakhar Imam submitted Rs5.2 million in taxes.

Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari paid Rs2.4 million, while Defence Minister Pervez Khattak submitted Rs1.8 million. Interior Minister Ijaz Shah, meanwhile, paid Rs58,120 in 2018.

Information Technology Minister Aminul Haque submitted Rs66,749 in taxes.

National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser paid Rs537,730 in an individual capacity and also submitted taxes through his AOP, which collectively paid Rs5,790,500. Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri had submitted Rs32,000 in taxes, according to the tax directory.

Taxes paid by senators
Law Minister Farogh Naseem, who paid over Rs35 million, was the highest tax-paying member of the Senate in 2018.

Senate Chairperson Sadiq Sanjrani paid Rs1.3 million in taxes during 2018, while Deputy Chairperson Saleem Mandvivalla paid Rs1.5 million.

PPP Senator Raza Rabbani paid Rs1.6 million and an amount of Rs2.6 million was paid in total tax by the AOP he is a member of, while his party member Senator Sherry Rehman submitted Rs1.5 million.

PML-N parliamentary leader in the Senate Mushahidullah Khan paid Rs316,461 in taxes in 2018, according to the directory.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1580350/s...r-among-lawmakers-who-paid-none-fbr-2018-data
 
So faisal vawda not only paid 0 tax, he has offshore havens where he saves himself from any tax at all.

Will pti clean up their own mess or keep targetting opposition?
 
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