Revelations: Selective tax paid by most bureaucrats

FBR unveils directory showing tax details of all taxpayers.

ISLAMABAD:

Like their political bosses, most of the top bureaucrats of the country have also restricted themselves to paying tax only on their salaried incomes, shows the tax directory of all taxpayers that has been published for the first time in the country’s history.

Tariq Bajwa, Chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the national tax collecting agency that often complains about those who do not pay their due taxes, paid Rs183,734 in income tax in the last fiscal year ended June 30, 2013.

Under the law, all citizens of the country are bound to file income tax returns, carrying details of incomes and expenditures, after the close of the fiscal year.

The tax directory of all taxpayers was published by the FBR, which has already unveiled the tax directory of parliamentarians that shows meagre contribution by the legislators.

“This is an important milestone in providing access to information to the general public and should help in creating public awareness, motivation and transparency,” said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar while commenting on publishing of the first tax directory.

The directory carries details of about 890,000 taxpayers and is the first attempt to sensitise the citizens about their duties. Pakistan has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in the world, as the country’s tax system is plagued by exemptions.

According to the tax directory, Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood Khan having national tax number (NTN) 0660462-5 paid Rs640,246 in income tax last year. The secretary is also ex-officio member on numerous boards of state-owned enterprises and is paid for attending each board meeting. He is also on the board of the State Bank of Pakistan.

Many state-owned companies generously pay their board members, irrespective of the financial condition of the entities. For instance, National Bank of Pakistan pays a fee of Rs95,000 for attending a board meeting to each of its members, according to the bank officials.

Similarly, Economic Affairs Division Secretary Nargis Sethi having NTN 0349588-4 paid Rs328,179 in income tax. She too represents the government in international financial institutions and is paid in dollars for attending their meetings.

The tax directory of parliamentarians has revealed that most of the politicians paid income tax only on their salary that they received as member of the National Assembly or Senate. Minister of Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal paid a meagre amount of Rs11,000 in income tax last year.

Adviser to the Ministry of Finance Rana Assad Amin paid Rs493,560 in income tax.

FBR’s Inland Revenue Policy member Shahid Hussain Asad, who directly deals with income tax issues, paid Rs227,015 in income tax. Yasmin Saud, the FBR member, paid Rs436,721 in income tax, Riffat Shaheen Qazi, another FBR member, paid Rs477,612 in tax and Shahid Hussain Jatoi, FBR member, paid Rs236,383 in tax.

Cabinet Division Secretary Akhlaq Ahmad Tarar paid Rs204,717 in income tax. But he told The Express Tribune that the amount declared by the FBR was higher than the income tax deducted from his salary.

He said the advance tax deducted like cash withdrawal from his two bank accounts was also not included in the tax declared by the FBR in the directory.

The FBR says the information carried in the tax directory is provisional and the taxpayers may contact the board if they find inaccurate details. It has not disclosed the tax paid by banks and oil exploration and production companies – the sectors that heavily contribute to the national kitty.

Shahid Hussain Asad, who is also spokesperson for the FBR, said the figures of these two sectors could not be added to the directory because of space constraints.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2014.

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