Year ended June 30, 2017: Tax directory reveals 9 MPs paid no tax

At least 9 lawmakers, including 4 members of the National Assembly, did not pay any tax for the year that ended June 30, 2017, revealed Parliamentarians Tax Directory released by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) here Friday. According to the FBR directory, 9 parliamentarians paid less than Rs 10,000 tax for the year ended on June 30, 2017, contrary to 19 parliamentarians who had paid less than Rs 10,000 tax for the year ended on June 30, 2016.
According to the Parliamentarians Tax Directory, all the senators and members of Punjab Assembly paid tax during the period under review. There is no senator who paid either zero or less than Rs 10,000 tax.
At least 90 parliamentarians, including 16 senators and 10 MNAs, had not paid any tax for the year ended on June 30, 2014. The list was reduced and 26 parliamentarians, including seven senators and one MNA, did not pay any tax for the year ended on June 30, 2015 and which was further reduced and at least 19 parliamentarians, including two members of National Assembly, failed to pay any tax for the year that ended on June 30, 2016.
The members of National Assembly who paid zero tax for the year that ended on June 30, 2017 include; Najaf Abbas Sial (NA-91), Rana Muhammad Qasim Noon (NA-153), Makhdoomzada Syed Basit Ahmad Sultan Bukhari (NA-179) and Begum Tahira Bukhari (women reserved seat). Two provincial members of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly including Sardar Fareed (PK-45) and Saleh Muhammad (PK-55) did not pay any tax during the period.
Two members of Sindh provincial Assembly including Syed Ghulam Shah Jeelani (PS-75) and Owais Muzaffar (PS-88) did not pay tax during this period as maintained in the tax directory. Santosh Kumar (non-Mulism-67) from Balochistan Assembly is among those parliamentarians who pad zero tax for the year ended on June 30, 2017.
The parliamentarians who paid less than Rs 10,000 tax included Khatu Mal Jeewan (Rs 1,145), Malik Nadeem Kamran (Rs 4,100), Malik Muhammad Iqbal Channar (Rs 4,100), Chauhdary Muhammad Shafique (Rs 3,050) who also paid Rs 280,979 total tax paid by AOPs in which taxpayer is a member, Raheela Anwar (Rs 4,645), Khalil Tahir Sindu (Rs 8,200), Sardar Muhammad Bakhsh Khan Mahar (Rs 8,750) and Rs 40,700 tax was paid by AOPs in which taxpayer is a member), Ali Nawaz Shah (Rs 4,053) and Shahid Taheem (Rs 5,604).