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ParadiseLeaks after PanamaLeaks!

http://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/413037-Shaukat-Aziz-named-in-Paradise-Papers-in-2nd-installment

Former PM Shaukat Aziz also named in Paradise Papers

LAHORE: (Dunya News) - Former Pakistan Prime Minister (PM) Shaukat Aziz has also been named in the Paradise Papers as second installment made public by International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Shaukat Aziz s company was being run from Barmuda, reported Dunya News.

Shaukat Aziz established the company named Antarctic Trust and his siblings, as well as wife, became the beneficiaries of the company and this company was never disclosed before Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Former chairman of NICL has also been named among those holding offshore companies. The Panama Papers second installment disclosed that Ayaz Khan Niazi, the former NICL chairman, was also having offshore assets in British Virgin Islands.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Queen Elizabeth named in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/paradiseleaks?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#paradiseleaks</a> - let’s see if Supreme Court of England & Wales sets up a JIT and removes her from Buckingham Palace</p>— Murtaza Ali Shah (@MurtazaGeoNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/MurtazaGeoNews/status/927255729785966598?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
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This guy is trying too hard.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Queen Elizabeth named in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/paradiseleaks?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#paradiseleaks</a> - let’s see if Supreme Court of England & Wales sets up a JIT and removes her from Buckingham Palace</p>— Murtaza Ali Shah (@MurtazaGeoNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/MurtazaGeoNews/status/927255729785966598?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
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This guy is trying too hard.

Tuckloo trying to please Sharifs :yk
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Queen Elizabeth named in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/paradiseleaks?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#paradiseleaks</a> - let’s see if Supreme Court of England & Wales sets up a JIT and removes her from Buckingham Palace</p>— Murtaza Ali Shah (@MurtazaGeoNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/MurtazaGeoNews/status/927255729785966598?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
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This guy is trying too hard.

Band of baldies :yk
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Queen Elizabeth named in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/paradiseleaks?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#paradiseleaks</a> - let’s see if Supreme Court of England & Wales sets up a JIT and removes her from Buckingham Palace</p>— Murtaza Ali Shah (@MurtazaGeoNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/MurtazaGeoNews/status/927255729785966598?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
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This guy is trying too hard.

If the Queen had laundered money or had unexplained wealth she would have to abdicate.The guy thinks that everyone is as stupid as Nooras.
 
A vast leak of financial documents could expose the secret wealth of hundreds of rich Indians, including politicians, corporate heavyweights and entertainment leaders, who are suspected to have used offshore tax havens to dodge taxes.

“Paradise Papers”, as they are being called by a collective of international journalists who pored over it for months and presented their findings on Sunday night, is a clutch of records and internal communications from Bermuda’s Appleby and Singapore’s Asiaciti.

Indian Express, one of the organisations reporting findings from the documents, identified former and current ministers, members of parliament, a steel conglomerate and a prominent Bollywood icon as names from India that figure in the documents.

India ranks 19 out of the 180 countries represented in the data in terms of the number of names. “In all, there are 714 Indians in the tally,” the report said in its front-page report published in the Monday edition.

Figuring in the documents — 13.4 million records — does not necessarily mean the people named are involved in crimes, Indian Express reported in an explainer.

“Normally, a company is entitled to arrange its financial affairs in whichever way it wishes to reduce its tax liability. Merely the fact that the motive for a particular transaction is to avoid tax does not invalidate the transaction unless the law of the land specifically says so. There is a corporate army engaged in imaginative bookkeeping to discover and exploit legal loopholes and evade tax under the corporate veil,” it said.

Appleby and Asiaciti are among the “corporate army” that help companies and individuals set up businesses, make investments and carry out financial operations. Such firms usually specialise in law, chartered accountancy and banking.

Data from Appleby and Asiaciti were obtained by German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, which shared it with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

The revelations could give clues to regulators and financial investigators to shift focus on individuals and organisations as India strengthens its efforts to catch tax dodgers.

International names

Some of the revelations in the Paradise Papers include millions of pounds from Queen Elizabeth II’s private estate that has been invested in a Cayman Islands fund and some of her money that went to a retailer accused of exploiting poor families and vulnerable people.

The documents also detail extensive offshore dealings by US President Donald Trump’s cabinet members, advisers and donors, including substantial payments from a firm co-owned by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law to the shipping group of the US Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross.

Social media giants Twitter and Facebook received millions in investments that can be traced back to Russian state financial institutions along with aggressive tax avoidance by multinational corporations, including Nike and Apple, the documents also purported to reveal.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s chief wealth manager is also among people figuring in the papers.
 
We should learn from Pakistan and have some heads on the chopping block.

The likes of Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai were named in the Panama thing but the news dissipated after that. Why?
 
We should learn from Pakistan and have some heads on the chopping block.

The likes of Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai were named in the Panama thing but the news dissipated after that. Why?

You think the removal of Nawaz sb was for corruption? The population cheering his removal are the same ones who don't pay taxes, and have no qualms about it.
 
You think the removal of Nawaz sb was for corruption? The population cheering his removal are the same ones who don't pay taxes, and have no qualms about it.

The population has no relevance.

It's the court in question who removed him. And yes, the charge was corruption and offshore money laundering.
 
The population has no relevance.

It's the court in question who removed him. And yes, the charge was corruption and offshore money laundering.

When will he be jailed, as corruption is a criminal case? So far he has been disqualified for not being truthful and righteous.

But your point stands, the indian judiciary is worse of the worst, and can learn something from Pakistani justice system (even they are not great, but better than the indians)
 
You think the removal of Nawaz sb was for corruption? The population cheering his removal are the same ones who don't pay taxes, and have no qualms about it.

Well it would be very dumb to KNOW that our tax is going in deep pockets of govt. officials and yet still waste tax money.
 
Well it would be very dumb to KNOW that our tax is going in deep pockets of govt. officials and yet still waste tax money.

Poor reasoning. Tax evasion is not justified if the government is corrupt.
 
If my government was corrupt; I would be reluctant to pay them taxes as I won't trust them. It is as simple as that.

No problem, I will explain it to you and [MENTION=139075]Hadi Rizvi[/MENTION] with a simple example.

Even the most corrupt government in the world is going to spend money on roads, healthcare, education, infrastructure, defense etc. etc.

Let's assume that our corrupt government puts 80% of the tax money in their pockets and spends only 20% in the government. In reality, they certainly spend more than 20% on the country, but for the sake of discussion, let's assume these arbitrary numbers.

Now if our people decide that they are not going to pay taxes because our corrupt government spends only 20% of the tax money on the country, what do you think will happen?

The government will end up spending even less on the country because the total tax money collected is going to be less.

For example, if the Federal Board of Revenue collected PKR 2 billion in Year 1, the government is going to pocket 1.6 billion, and spend 0.4 billion on the country.

In Year 2, let's assume that half of the people decide that since the government is corrupt, they are not going to pay their taxes.

Hence, the Federal Board of Revenue will now collect PKR 1 billion instead of 2 billion. As a result, the government is going to pocket PKR 0.8 billion and will spend only 0.2 billion on the country, which is half of what they did in Year 1.

Therefore, by refusing to pay taxes because of the corrupt government, people are actually making things worse and doing further damage to the country.

The corruption of the government is not an excuse for tax evasion; it is the duty of every eligible citizen in the country to pay his/her taxes, and if every citizen in Pakistan full pays his or her taxes, there will definitely be progress in the country regardless of how corrupt the government is.

My father worked for the Federal Board of Revenue. I know a thing or two about the impact of tax evasion.
 
No problem, I will explain it to you and [MENTION=139075]Hadi Rizvi[/MENTION] with a simple example.

Even the most corrupt government in the world is going to spend money on roads, healthcare, education, infrastructure, defense etc. etc.

Let's assume that our corrupt government puts 80% of the tax money in their pockets and spends only 20% in the government. In reality, they certainly spend more than 20% on the country, but for the sake of discussion, let's assume these arbitrary numbers.

Now if our people decide that they are not going to pay taxes because our corrupt government spends only 20% of the tax money on the country, what do you think will happen?

The government will end up spending even less on the country because the total tax money collected is going to be less.

For example, if the Federal Board of Revenue collected PKR 2 billion in Year 1, the government is going to pocket 1.6 billion, and spend 0.4 billion on the country.

In Year 2, let's assume that half of the people decide that since the government is corrupt, they are not going to pay their taxes.

Hence, the Federal Board of Revenue will now collect PKR 1 billion instead of 2 billion. As a result, the government is going to pocket PKR 0.8 billion and will spend only 0.2 billion on the country, which is half of what they did in Year 1.

Therefore, by refusing to pay taxes because of the corrupt government, people are actually making things worse and doing further damage to the country.

The corruption of the government is not an excuse for tax evasion; it is the duty of every eligible citizen in the country to pay his/her taxes, and if every citizen in Pakistan full pays his or her taxes, there will definitely be progress in the country regardless of how corrupt the government is.

My father worked for the Federal Board of Revenue. I know a thing or two about the impact of tax evasion.

Let's assume that our corrupt government puts 80% of the tax money in its pocket and spends only 20% on the country. *
 
Hmm would like to see the Indian names in this and see if our media/government have balls to go after these people..
 
No problem, I will explain it to you and [MENTION=139075]Hadi Rizvi[/MENTION] with a simple example.

Even the most corrupt government in the world is going to spend money on roads, healthcare, education, infrastructure, defense etc. etc.

Let's assume that our corrupt government puts 80% of the tax money in their pockets and spends only 20% in the government. In reality, they certainly spend more than 20% on the country, but for the sake of discussion, let's assume these arbitrary numbers.

Now if our people decide that they are not going to pay taxes because our corrupt government spends only 20% of the tax money on the country, what do you think will happen?

The government will end up spending even less on the country because the total tax money collected is going to be less.

For example, if the Federal Board of Revenue collected PKR 2 billion in Year 1, the government is going to pocket 1.6 billion, and spend 0.4 billion on the country.

In Year 2, let's assume that half of the people decide that since the government is corrupt, they are not going to pay their taxes.

Hence, the Federal Board of Revenue will now collect PKR 1 billion instead of 2 billion. As a result, the government is going to pocket PKR 0.8 billion and will spend only 0.2 billion on the country, which is half of what they did in Year 1.

Therefore, by refusing to pay taxes because of the corrupt government, people are actually making things worse and doing further damage to the country.

The corruption of the government is not an excuse for tax evasion; it is the duty of every eligible citizen in the country to pay his/her taxes, and if every citizen in Pakistan full pays his or her taxes, there will definitely be progress in the country regardless of how corrupt the government is.

My father worked for the Federal Board of Revenue. I know a thing or two about the impact of tax evasion.

What a load of poop. A Pakistani should pay taxes so that dakku Nawaz Sharif is provided accomodation in Punjab house and has a 50 car protocol. You are justifying corruption; you should evaluate your morals and ethics. This is a new stance of PMLN #SupportCorruption, Ahsan Iqbal came up with a similar gem today.
 
:zardari still gets away.

Zardari 2
Corruption leaks 0
 
What a load of poop. A Pakistani should pay taxes so that dakku Nawaz Sharif is provided accomodation in Punjab house and has a 50 car protocol. You are justifying corruption; you should evaluate your morals and ethics. This is a new stance of PMLN #SupportCorruption, Ahsan Iqbal came up with a similar gem today.

A Pakistani should pay taxes because tax evasion is a considerable problem. We cannot expect the country to progress, and we cannot blame the government for being corrupt when we are corrupt ourselves. Tax evasion is a form of corruption because it is a form of theft.

This is not a justification of corruption. I am simply point out a fact that if we are not going to pay our taxes, we are going to worsen the state of our country, irrespective of whether the government is corrupt or not. I wrote it in very simple English, and I don't think I can make it comprehensible further.
 
A Pakistani should pay taxes because tax evasion is a considerable problem. We cannot expect the country to progress, and we cannot blame the government for being corrupt when we are corrupt ourselves. Tax evasion is a form of corruption because it is a form of theft.

This is not a justification of corruption. I am simply point out a fact that if we are not going to pay our taxes, we are going to worsen the state of our country, irrespective of whether the government is corrupt or not. I wrote it in very simple English, and I don't think I can make it comprehensible further.

The root of the problem is the government being corrupt. Why not do a root cause analysis instead of coming out with theories that literally support corruption. The fix rots from the top. If you want taxes then the government should mend it's ways if they are so concerned about progression.

Personally, I would also not pay taxes when I know that my money is not spent on the well being of the society that I reside in. It's like giving pocket money to a thief.
 
^^ This attitude is exactly why Pakistan's public services and basic infrastructure is in shambles.

Most third world countries are affected by corruption however the government still has to raise revenues to guarantee its citizens a basic standard of living. Pakistan over the years has been heavily reliant on sources of revenue such as remittances, foreign aid, borrowing and through IMF loans which come with harsh conditions.

Pakistan would not need to be so dependent on these sources if it expands the tax base. Yet even by third world standards, Pakistan fares badly when you look at the tax to GDP ratio.

This is why the phrase "the people get the leaders they deserve" is trotted out, if you're not willing to fulfil your basic duty as a citizen in paying tax then what right do you have to complain about corruption ?
 
^^ This attitude is exactly why Pakistan's public services and basic infrastructure is in shambles.

Most third world countries are affected by corruption however the government still has to raise revenues to guarantee its citizens a basic standard of living. Pakistan over the years has been heavily reliant on sources of revenue such as remittances, foreign aid, borrowing and through IMF loans which come with harsh conditions.

Pakistan would not need to be so dependent on these sources if it expands the tax base. Yet even by third world standards, Pakistan fares badly when you look at the tax to GDP ratio.

This is why the phrase "the people get the leaders they deserve" is trotted out, if you're not willing to fulfil your basic duty as a citizen in paying tax then what right do you have to complain about corruption ?

I agree with everything you're saying and everyone should certainly be paying their taxes.
BUT, King-Misbah has a point regarding the government.

At the end of the day setting and collecting the taxes falls on the Government. The Government itself does little in the way of collecting taxes as it is corrupt to the core. How can you expect a government to forcefully collect taxes from its people when that same government has been looting the country and the tax payer for decades?
 
^^ This attitude is exactly why Pakistan's public services and basic infrastructure is in shambles.

Most third world countries are affected by corruption however the government still has to raise revenues to guarantee its citizens a basic standard of living. Pakistan over the years has been heavily reliant on sources of revenue such as remittances, foreign aid, borrowing and through IMF loans which come with harsh conditions.

Pakistan would not need to be so dependent on these sources if it expands the tax base. Yet even by third world standards, Pakistan fares badly when you look at the tax to GDP ratio.

This is why the phrase "the people get the leaders they deserve" is trotted out, if you're not willing to fulfil your basic duty as a citizen in paying tax then what right do you have to complain about corruption ?

The actual agency that collects tax, FBR, is the most corrupt in the country. It is a known practice amongst the trading companies that you mis-declare the value of your imports/exports so as to escape paying higher taxes and all of this is done in collusion with the FBR officers. Whose job is it to fix the FBR? People will always try to cheat the system, heck it even happens in first world Canada/UK and third world USA ( [MENTION=136729]Suleiman[/MENTION] :P). The difference is that in these countries the government have developed such sound institutions that it is not easy to cheat the system.
 
The root of the problem is the government being corrupt. Why not do a root cause analysis instead of coming out with theories that literally support corruption. The fix rots from the top. If you want taxes then the government should mend it's ways if they are so concerned about progression.

Personally, I would also not pay taxes when I know that my money is not spent on the well being of the society that I reside in. It's like giving pocket money to a thief.

Once again, the corruption of the government is not intertwined with the corruption of the individuals who use the former to justify tax evasion. I am not supporting corruption by any stretch of imagination, but you are certainly making a very feeble argument to defend tax evasion.
 
Once again, the corruption of the government is not intertwined with the corruption of the individuals who use the former to justify tax evasion. I am not supporting corruption by any stretch of imagination, but you are certainly making a very feeble argument to defend tax evasion.

what's the benefit of a corrupt government?
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Formula One champion <a href="https://twitter.com/LewisHamilton?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LewisHamilton</a> 'dodged' VAT on £16.5m private jet <a href="https://t.co/up0BZvepBU">https://t.co/up0BZvepBU</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ParadisePapers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ParadisePapers</a> <a href="https://t.co/bf0bHDq2gE">pic.twitter.com/bf0bHDq2gE</a></p>— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCBreaking/status/927596760666603520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/Apple?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Apple</a> secretly set up a new structure to continue avoiding billions of dollars in tax, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ParadisePapers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ParadisePapers</a> reveal <a href="https://t.co/gfkp6YgTqo">https://t.co/gfkp6YgTqo</a></p>— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCBreaking/status/927597238746050566?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2017</a></blockquote>
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None, but a corrupt government governing a country of tax evaders is a lot worse than a corrupt government governing people who are paying their dues.

What about general sales tax? Isn't everyone paying it when they purchase commodities even if they dodge wealth tax?

What happens when people avoid wealth tax or income tax but then purchase more stuff and end up paying sales tax?
 
None, but a corrupt government governing a country of tax evaders is a lot worse than a corrupt government governing people who are paying their dues.

Pakistani lower and middle class is already paying enough indirect taxes even without their knowledge.
 
I have seen some posts above where some posters say that a Pakistani should not pay taxes as all tax money go in the pockets of the corrupt officials and not spent on the country. This is corrupt thinking.

Every Pakistani if able is liable to pay taxes to the government, you would be liable for your actions so do the right thing and pay your necessary dues. The officials in the government will be answerable for their actions on how the use the money.

Taxes are one of the big reasons our economy is behind others on a global scale.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ParadisePapers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ParadisePapers</a> again prove what I said at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PMQs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PMQs</a>: There's one rule for the super-rich and another for the rest when it comes to paying tax. <a href="https://t.co/QaNbCaeb21">pic.twitter.com/QaNbCaeb21</a></p>— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) <a href="https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn/status/927244777539751936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">5 November 2017</a></blockquote>
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Fact is no one likes paying taxes voluntarily and people reduce as much tax as they legally can in developed countries. FBR is Pakistan as absolutely toothless and corrupt and biggest joke is we expect Zardaris and Sharifs to improve FBR and tax collection.


I think Indian tax collection is far better than Pakistan from what i have heard but very surprised no action was taken against Panama culprits.
 
Does Pakistan not have a system where - for example - to take a home or car loan or apply for registration of electricity or a water connection, you need to submit the Income Tax Returns of the past 2-3 years? That alone may increase compliance.

In addition, what tax saving measures does Pakistan have? Insurance / Equity Schemes / Government programmes? This is another step that has proven to work in India.
 
Fact is no one likes paying taxes voluntarily and people reduce as much tax as they legally can in developed countries. FBR is Pakistan as absolutely toothless and corrupt and biggest joke is we expect Zardaris and Sharifs to improve FBR and tax collection.


I think Indian tax collection is far better than Pakistan from what i have heard but very surprised no action was taken against Panama culprits.

FBR is the third most corrupt institute in the country after Customs and WAPDA. However, that isn't an excuse for tax evasion. Yes people reduce legal tax in developed countries, but that is tax avoidance. Tax avoidance is legal, but tax evasion is illegal, and it is a huge problem for Pakistan.

Basically our people are going to look for every excuse under the sun to justify their corruption, but certainly if a Sadiq and Ameen government comes into power, they will start paying taxes.
 
Pakistani lower and middle class is already paying enough indirect taxes even without their knowledge.

Which is necessary considering how little direct taxes they pay. The tax-to-GDP ratio is still very low, and according to the IMF, it is one of the biggest reasons for Pakistan's lack of economic progress.
 
What about general sales tax? Isn't everyone paying it when they purchase commodities even if they dodge wealth tax?

What happens when people avoid wealth tax or income tax but then purchase more stuff and end up paying sales tax?

GST/VAT (the two are largely interchangeable) was introduced by France in 1954 to hedge against tax evasion. It is certainly helpful to an extent, but studies have shown that it has not had a huge impact. People who are dodging income tax are not necessarily going to purchase more goods. Even if they do, it is not enough to counter the implications of tax evasion.

In spite of the high number of indirect taxes in Pakistan, the tax-to-GDP ratio is still pitiful.
 
GST/VAT (the two are largely interchangeable) was introduced by France in 1954 to hedge against tax evasion. It is certainly helpful to an extent, but studies have shown that it has not had a huge impact. People who are dodging income tax are not necessarily going to purchase more goods. Even if they do, it is not enough to counter the implications of tax evasion.

In spite of the high number of indirect taxes in Pakistan, the tax-to-GDP ratio is still pitiful.

any study that correlates good governance with higher tax payers or vice versa that you know of?
 
Agree with mamoon that a Pakistani should pay taxes but PML ate pocketing too much of that money and so if we actually elect a more responsible and reliable party then we are more likely for better education and healthcare
 
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