Dues shy: Only 35 K-P legislators paid income tax last year

PESHAWAR: If income tax details revealed by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) are to be believed, the big guns among Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) politicians are from the poorest section of the province. According to the Parliamentarians Tax Directory issued by FBR on February 15, of the 97 lawmakers of the provincial assembly who filed their tax returns, only 35 paid taxes while only two paid the income support levy (ISL). The government has imposed the ISL at the rate of 0.5% of the value of all moveable assets an individual owns. More interestingly, of a house of 124, only 97 bothered to make the effort of filing their returns.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker from Peshawar Ziaullah Afridi paid ISL worth Rs97,072 and Rs231,460 in taxes while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker from Haripur Raja Faisal Zaman paid ISL worth Rs8,333 and taxes worth Rs54,200. The income tax returns published on FBR’s website are up till the financial year that ended on June 30, 2013 and are stated to be a “provisional edition” to be finalised by the end of this month. K-P Chief Minister Pervez Khattak paid Rs300,494 in taxes whereas opposition leader Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan Abbasi paid Rs153,844 but both have not paid the income support levy. Senior minister Sirajul Haq’s name does not appear on the list. Meanwhile, cabinet members including Minister for Information Shah Farman, Minister for Health Shaukat Ali Yousafzai, Minister for Revenue Ali Amin Gandapur, Minister for Agriculture Shahram Khan, speaker Asad Qaiser and Minister for Sports and Culture Mehmood Khan have not paid any taxes. PTI lawmaker Dr Mehr Taj Roghani and PML-N’s Sobia Shahid were the only female MPAs among 22 women lawmakers who paid taxes worth Rs 704,730 and Rs156,000 respectively. Of parliamentary leaders in K-P Assembly, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) Maulana Lutfur Rehman, Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) leader Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao, Awami National Party (ANP) leader Sardar Hussain Babak and Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Muhammad Ali Shah Baacha have not paid a penny in taxes. Out of the 35 lawmakers who paid taxes, only 14 have six figure payments and the rest have submitted paltry amounts. JUI-F lawmaker from Lakki Marwat Malik Noor Salim has paid the highest amount of tax amounting to Rs11.512 million, however, he paid no ISL. PTI’s Amjad Khan Afridi and Iftikhar Ali Mashwani paid Rs3.8 million and Rs3.2 million respectively in taxes. PML-N’s Sardar Zahoor Ahmed and Nawabzada Wali Mohammad Khan paid Rs2 million and Rs1.3 million respectively but did not pay any ISL. JUI-F lawmaker Shah Hussain Khan Allai and Adviser to Chief Minister on Food Haji Qalandar Khan Lodhi have topped the list from the bottom after having paid Rs1,000 each in income tax returns. Other lawmakers who have paid taxes are: PTI Mohammad Ishtiaq Rs35,675 PTI Khaliqur Rehman Rs2,530 PTI Jamshaiduddin Rs176,158 PTI Qurban Ali Khan Rs55,545 JUI-F Fazal Shakor Khan Rs790,312 PTI Muhammad Arif Rs2,500 ANP Ahmed Khan Bahadur Rs13,625 AJIP Muhammad Ali Tarkai Rs2,300 PTI Imtiaz Shahid Rs5,403 PTI Arif Yousaf Rs9,180 PTI Muhstaq Ghani Rs128,448 PTI Sardar Mohammad Idress Rs3,500 PML-N Raja Faisal Zaman Rs54,200 PTI Yaseen Khan Khalil Rs27,500 PTI Faisal Zaman Rs16,000 PML-N Wajehuzaman Khan Rs35,750 PTI Fazal Elahi Rs7,500 JUI-F Mahmood Ahmad Khan Rs30,560 JUI-F Azam Khan Durrani Rs32,000 JUI-F Malik Riaz Khan Rs282,359 JUI-F Anwar Hayat Khan Rs260,447 JUI-F Munawar Khan Rs127,500 QWP Al Hajj Ibrar Hussain Rs339,138 JI Inayatullah Khan Rs11,750 Published in The Express Tribune, February 17th, 2014.