Named, shamed — and paid up

The lawmakers have paid 88.3 per cent more taxes in the fiscal year 2014 than they did in 2013

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is probably quietly pleased with itself. Pakistan’s parliamentarians were notably backwards at coming forward when it came to paying their taxes. The FBR decided to detail these tax dodgers and published a list of those who were not paying their dues — and this appears to have prodded many of them into paying up. The lawmakers, taken as a national group, have paid 88.3 per cent more taxes in the fiscal year 2014 than they did in 2013. Of particular note are cabinet ministers who have paid 90.60 per cent more than in the previous year. Good news, as this may appear to be, it is only part of the story. Most politicians and members of the various assemblies, federal and provincial, only declare the income they get as elected representatives and pay tax on, keeping mum about their many and diverse income streams outside that provided by virtue of their elected positions.

There are 1,169 members of the Senate, the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies, and 1,040 of them have filed a tax return, leaving 129 holdouts who remain tax evaders. Persuading anybody to pay their taxes in Pakistan is a Herculean task, and the fact that there is at least some revenue coming into government coffers via individual taxation must be welcomed, but it is but a drop in the ocean and the failure to pay taxes lies at the heart of our impoverishment as a nation. Interestingly, it is the senators who proportionately have paid more than the National Assembly members. The Senate coughed up Rs122 million from its 96 members as against Rs116 million from the members of the National Assembly. Outside the legislature the picture remains bleak. A paltry 857,000 people filed tax returns in the last fiscal year, way below the modest goal of 1.2 million set by the government. Whilst we welcome this change in behaviour on the part of most of our legislature, it is a change in the behaviour of the rest of the tax-liable population that is needed. Achieve that and the FBR really will deserve a pat on the back.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th,  2015.

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