FBR launches Tax Directory of Parliamentarians, general tax payers

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Friday launched the 2nd Tax Directory of Parliamentarians and General Tax payers for the Year 2014 aimed at promoting tax compliance culture in the country.

Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq Dar inaugurated the directories at FBR Headquarters as the details of tax returns of Parliamentarians were placed on the Board’s website.

Addressing the ceremony, Minister for Finance said that out of total 1,169 Parliamentarians 1,040 have filed their tax returns where as 129 members have so far not deposited their returns.

However, he said that these members were also asked to deposit their due tax returns by April 10.

He said that from the floor of the National Assembly, he had appealed the members to submit their tax returns as details of all these would be uploaded on FBR’s website.

Lauding the efforts of FBR the Minister said that it was a difficult task to publish the tax directory of the members of Parliament but the government took the initiative and published it during the last year.

He said that the government had promised that it would publish the tax directory to enhance and promote the tax compliance culture in the country and it had fulfilled its yet another commitment by launching the directory of second year.

Dar informed that when PML-N came into power in 2013, the number of total tax payers in the country were 711,000 which was increased to 800,000 during last financial year, adding that now it has reached 857,000 which were published in the recent directory.

He informed that Pakistan was the 4th country in the world which had published the tax directory of its Parliamentarians and which was appreciated by the global community.

According to the tax directory, PM Nawaz Sharif has paid Rs2,611,037, Ch Nisar Ali Khan Rs641,284, Senator Ishaq Dar Rs2,286,702, Information Minister Pervaiz Rasheed Rs313,681, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif Rs5,125,545, Hamza Shahbaz Rs4,888,122, PTI Chief Imran Khan Rs218,237, Shah Mahmood Qureshi Rs1,533,731, and Aitzaz Ahsan Rs12,474,875.

Ch Arshad Javaid Warraich is the highest tax payer parliamentarian with Rs24,080,698. (Geo/APP)