Editorial

Naming tax evaders

FBR is going to face massive political pressure to suppress its findings and turn a blind eye to criminality of many.

Editorial January 04, 2013

FBR is going to face massive political pressure to suppress its findings and turn a blind eye to criminality of many. DESIGN: FAIZAN DAWOOD

In asking the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to make public the details of all tax dodgers, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is perhaps not quite acting in the public interest. Many of the parliamentarians who sit on the PAC were embarrassed when the tax details of our legislators were leaked, showing that the majority of them pay a pitiful amount to the national exchequer. The whole purpose of this request seems to be to show that parliamentarians are not alone in avoiding their taxes; rather they hope to be excused on ‘everybody does it’ grounds. Just because they are acting in self-interest, however, does not mean that the idea itself is unworthy of support. Naming and shaming may be the most powerful tool the FBR has in its quest to increase the number of taxpayers in the country.

The FBR has come up with a number of innovative proposals to identify tax defaulters, including eliminating the human element by using data such as cars owned and foreign trips taken to figure out if people are paying their fair share. The problem, as always, lies in implementation. Many of those implicated are going to be businesspeople with political connections and likely even the politicians who run this country. The FBR is going to face massive political pressure to suppress its findings and turn a blind eye to the criminality of many. To face this down, the FBR will have to fight it out in a court of law against people who have access to the best lawyers and politicians money can buy.

One suggestion of the PAC that should be ignored is its determination to punish the leaker responsible for handing over their tax details to journalists. Yes, tax returns are meant to be private and leaking them is against the law but, in this case, the right to be a whistleblower should trump this concern. We have the right to know if our representative are evading taxes and so the brave individual who made that knowledge public should be lauded, not castigated.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 5^th, 2013.

COMMENTS (2)

Saud | 11 years ago | Reply

So by this logic, If someone breaks into your offices and is successful in finding incriminating evidence against you, they should be lauded and praised?

Ricky | 11 years ago | Reply Every sitting and retired govt official's taxes must be a public record that everybody can see. Similarly all politicians’s (who have filed nomination papers) tax record should be made public not just the elected politicians but the losers also. There should be an equality and equal justice for all. In fact some politicians have not worked for decades and live large, that should be investigated to full extent of law. The accountability should be fair and across the board not just against the elected leaders. Why should the corrupt officials and losing politicians get the advantage of not being audited and kept under the rug?

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