Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Ishaq Dar has taken a welcoming decision to allow the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for publishing tax directory of Parliamentarians.
Under Pakistan’s tax laws, the federal government has granted permission to the FBR to publish such a tax directory of parliamentarians. Now this move will pave the way for convincing other influential segments of the society to come forward and voluntarily allow for disclosing their tax information. If this trend gets promoted in our country then fiscal problems can be resolved.
In a country where less than one percent population is filing income tax returns out of total 180 million, the filing of returns and publishing of tax directory about the influential will pave the way for promoting this trend in our country.
After publishing of tax report which disclosed massive discrepancies in the payment of taxes, parliamentarians also revealed startling facts that around 12 percent, out of total 1046 members of National Assembly, Senate and four provincial assemblies, are non-National Tax Number (NTN) holders.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar chaired a high-level meeting in FBR last week in which the decision was taken that FBR would publish a tax directory of Parliamentarians by February 15, 2014. The government took stance that they would not defend any tax defaulters so all kind of facilitation would be provided to them to discharge their national duty by becoming filers and taxpayers.
How the government could defend tax defaulters even among the top politicians of the country as foreign donors are justified in raising questions that why they should given money of their honest taxpayers to fill the needs of a country where rulers and politicians are tax defaulters.
Now the FBR has been assigned to facilitate those non-NTN holders to get them registered into taxation system of the country and file their returns which would be published on the website of the FBR by mid of the next month.
It is the basic right of the masses to get information about payment of taxes by those whom they have elected to represent them in the top constitutional forum of the country.
Pakistan, unfortunately, falls among the list of those countries where tax-to-GDP ratio is dismally low and it is quite shameful. Now the time has come to break the status quo and ensure full payment of taxes otherwise standing in the comity of nations with integrity and pride will become difficult for the countrymen.
