FBR launches parliamentarians' tax directory for 2016-17

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Thursday launched the Parliamentarians Tax Directory for the fourth consecutive year ending on June 30, which is now accessible on FBR website.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar formally launched the tax directory in a ceremony held here at the FBR headquarters.

This year the tax directory containing tax details of 1,010 parliamentarians as against last years' tax details of 996 parliamentarians from upper and lower houses, and provincial assemblies were disclosed for public.

The FBR has allowed additional one month to those parliamentarians who are still in the process of submitting tax details.

Addressing on the occasion, Ishaq Dar said Pakistan was among the four countries on the globe which had made the tax returns of its parliamentarians public.

He said this showed the commitment of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government to ensure transparency at highest level.

The minister said people were speculating that the government would not publish the details this year, however he with the consent of Federal Cabinet, made it possible even in July which was earlier as it was to be published in October.

He said due to structural reforms introduced by the incumbent government in taxation system, revenue collection increased by 73 per cent in 4 years from around Rs1,900 billion in 2013 to Rs3,360 billion this year.

Highlighting the government's economic performance during last four years, the minister said it had made several efforts to ensure transparency in institutions.

"After continued struggle for two years and by fulfilling the international set criteria and introducing the internal reforms, Pakistan became the 104th member of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development," Dar said adding that the multilateral convention on administrative assistance in tax matters was aimed at curbing growing tax evasion and encouraging the tax compliance culture across the board.

Besides, he said after a long negotiations of three years, Pakistan had signed a unilateral treaty with Switzerland for sharing the tax information in order to bring transparency and plugging the tax evasion.

The minister said the government has also initiated steps for implementing the international conventions for anti-bribery for eradicating the menace of corruption from the country.

Additionally, the minister informed that the current government initiated the toughest programme with the International Monetary Fund and completed it successfully.

He however, said all these economic gains were not being digested by the detrackers.

"The detrackers are not happy with the current development as they do not want to see Pakistan as an economic sovereign country", he added.

Earlier, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on revenue affairs, Haroon Akhtar Khan said the government had launched a number of initiatives to ensure transparency in the country.

He said it was critical to distinguish between the corrupt people and those who build the nation.