The Finance Ministry has released the seventh tax directory of parliamentarians, curiously after a delay of more than two years. The directory makes important revelations some of which have negative implications. Every taxable citizen is supposed to make timely payment of what he owes to the state. It is all the more necessary in the case of lawmakers who are supposed to be well aware of the financial crunch the country is facing, forcing the government to seek foreign loans. To ensure that the common man abides by laws, the lawmakers are required to act as role models. A number of revelations in the directory indicate that there is a need for a lot of improvement.
The information in the directory has led an independent observer to conclude that the members of the National Assembly and Senate paid just 5.2 percent of their income, far lower than the standard maximum tax rate of 35 percent for a salaried person. It has been claimed that even PM Imran Khan’s effective tax rate came to 24%. This is by no means reassuring for the salariat. Again, a significant number of parliamentarians and MPAs simply did not file returns in tax year 2019. Consequently the number of tax paying legislators declined compared to 2018. This does not reflect well on the performance of the FBR which has yet to clarify whether any action had been taken against the delinquents. There are cases where MPAs, who spend millions to win the seat, have paid insignificant taxes. More than 120 Punjab MPAs paid less than Rs10,000 in income tax and several paid only Rs2,000 and Rs1,000 in taxes. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Bazdar paid a paltry Rs2,000 in the tax year 2019, while he paid no tax in the previous year.
There appears to be a miraculous increase in the PM’s taxable income after coming to power. In 2017 he paid Rs 103,763 in taxes, in 2018 Rs 282,449 and in 2019 Rs 98,54,959. No explanation has been offered for the crescendo. An opposition leader has called it an outcome of “the magic of power.’’
Last week a legislation was introduced to exempt the armed forces from a similar disclosure of income tax paid. No explanation was offered for the exception made. It is only in autocratic set ups that some citizens are treated as more equal than others.
