ISLAMABAD: On Monday, the government revealed the parliament members’ income details. It was found that the tax paid in 2019 had a 28 per cent decrease. Out of 10 lawmakers, at least one did not file tax returns. The reports for 2020 and 2021 are yet to be made available to public.
The legal amendment introduced by the government last week gave the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) the permission to make the information public. However, armed forces were exempted, and their information was not released.
Of the 446 members of the Senate and National Assembly, 392 members filed tax returns. But compared to their declared assets worth Rs11 billion, they only paid 5.2pc of the income in taxes. The standard rate for a person with salary is 35pc. Prime Minister Pakistan Imran Khan paid 22.7pc of his income (Rs9.9 million) in lieu of taxes. His declared income was Rs43.6 million.
Rs58.3 million tax was paid by the members of the Balochistan Assembly. Their declared assets accumulate to Rs944 million. Members of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly declared Rs720 million in assets while paid Rs30 million for taxes. Rs3 billion worth of assets were declared by the Punjab Assembly members, but they paid a tax of Rs231 million. Sindh Assembly’s members paid Rs82.5 million tax against their declared assets worth Rs1.8 billion.