Tax details of parliamentarians to be made public by Feb 15: Ishaq Dar

The Federal Board of Revenue has also been directed to issue national tax numbers to all the parliamentarians.

ISLAMABAD: Amid a firestorm over the tax returns filed by elected public representatives, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told the Senate on Monday that tax details of all tax payers, including parliamentarians will be made public by February 15,  Radio Pakistan reported.

Earlier, taxpayers were found understating their assets and incomes in an attempt to cheat the Federal Bureau of Revenue and causing losses to the exchequer.

He added that the Federal Board of Revenue has been directed to issue national tax numbers to all the parliamentarians by the end January.

Dar assured that all parliamentarians are paying tax as it is deducted from their salaries directly. He said the tax details of all the Parliamentarians were also collected by the Election Commission of Pakistan at the time of the elections.

Security situation

Earlier‚ the House started a discussion on a motion moved by Mian Raza Rabbani regarding the current political and security situation in the country with particular reference to Balochistan‚ FATA and Rawalpindi.

During the discussion, Farhatullah Babar said that security establishment must be brought under the oversight of the parliament and structural reforms in this regard should be completed at the earliest. He said better management of the borders is also imperative to control the movement of the miscreants.

Abdul Rauf said that it is the responsibility of the elected representatives of all the political parties to work hard for provision of better security to the masses.

Furthermore, Mushahidullah Khan also that the government is making efforts to improve the law and order situation in the country. He said due to the measures of the government the law and order situation has improved in Karachi and improving in rest of the country.

Khan said that it is first time in history that the government has shown courage to try a dictator. He stated that Pervez Musharraf’s case is sub-judice and the court will decide his fate.

Shift of SBP head quarters

Later on, the House started a discussion on a motion moved by Haji Mohammad Adeel regarding the situation arising out of non-shifting of headquarters of the State Bank of Pakistan from Karachi to Islamabad.

Initiating the debate‚ Haji said that after the creation of Pakistan the capital of the country was in Karachi and as a result headquarters of all the Federal institutions and departments were in Karachi.

He said that after the shifting of the Capital from Karachi to Islamabad‚ the headquarters of almost all the national institutions were shifted to the new capital. Due to the negligence, the headquarters of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) could not be shifted to Islamabad.

He said as a national institution, the SBP should be shifted to the capital to boost the economy of the country.

Colonel Tahir Hussain Mashhadi said that Karachi is the business hub of the country; therefore‚ headquarters of SBP should not be shifted to the federal capital.

The Constitution Twenty-second Amendment Bill‚ 2013 was introduced in the House on Monday.

The bill provides to amend the Articles 177‚ 193 and 240 of the Constitution.