ISLAMABAD: A special committee of the National Assembly cleared almost all the members of the Lower House of the Parliament for filing their tax returns.
As per the report, submitted to National Assembly on Friday, stated “it was observed by the committee that almost all the Members of National Assembly have filed their tax returns, and as the income tax law prevents the income tax authorities to disclose any such particulars relating to income tax returns, therefore, the special committee does not consider it appropriate as the committee has no mandate to probe into the details of non-payment of taxes”.
The committee urged Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to update its website. In pursuance of the motion by MNA Asad Umar of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) under rule 244(B) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007 and adopted by the House on 8th April, 2014, the special committee was constituted comprising Omar Ayub Khan (Chairman), Muhammad Pervaiz Malik, Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan, Mian Abdul Mannan, Sheikh Rohail Asghar, Asad Umar, Abdul Rashid Godial, Asiya Nash, Shazia Marri; and Qaiser Ahmed Shaikh.
The task of the committee is to investigate the allegation of non-payment of taxes by a number of parliamentarians. The committee held its meetings on 12-06-2014 & 15-07-2014 and discussed the matter in detail. According to the report, the committee observed that members of the National Assembly have already declared their assets before the returning officers during the general elections, 2013 and the same were also submitted to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The members of the committee were apprised by the Chief Income Tax (Policy-Il) Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) of the tax returns filed by the Members of the National Assembly. It was said that only four Members of the National Assembly failed to file their tax returns. Majority of members of the committee were of the opinion that the committee could not inquire into the tax details of any citizen due to the bar contained in Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.
Asad Umar, member of the committee has shown his concern on the viewpoint of the other committee members. He insisted that details about tax paid by the Members of the National Assembly in the last five years, their net assets and total income should be obtained by FBR.
Chief Income Tax (Policy-II), Federal Board of Revenue, Malik Amjed Zubair Tiwana replied that in terms of section 216 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, Federal Board of Revenue could not disclose the details, as required by Asad Umar.
