ISLAMABAD: The recently published tax directory has revealed some interesting facts by publishing the amount of income tax paid by Pakistanis from various walks of life. It reveals the tax paid by politicians, sportsmen, corporate bosses, etc.
If taking Shahid Afridi for an example of honest taxpayer, he paid 2.7 million rupees as income tax for the tax year ending June 2013. Former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, however, appears so penniless comparatively that he only paid Rs 177,163 income tax on income he earned during financial year 2012-13. It was the year when he was the chief executive of the country.
Former president Asif Ali Zardari paid Rs1.4 million in income tax, almost half the amount paid by the Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi, according to the tax directory published by the Federal Board of Revenue.
The amount paid by Afridi is also several times higher than the taxes paid by leading politicians and top bureaucrats of the country, revealed the directory. But Afridi can never be closer to the billionaires of the country like Arif Habib who paid Rs 80.7 million in income tax.
The government’s decision to publish the tax directory has brought the country in league of only three other countries in the world that regularly publish tax details. But the FBR has not given full information of taxpayers. The absence of family name has made it difficult for the users to identify the bigwigs of the country.
There is also no detail available about the income and expenditures declared by the taxpayers in their income tax returns. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar paid Rs 824,891 in income tax. Human Rights activist and lawyer Asma Jahangir paid Rs 440,480 in income tax. Abdul Wajid Rana, former finance secretary, paid around Rs 850,000 in income tax. Rana is currently serving as member at the Federal Public Service Commission.
Meanwhile, Dar has admitted that there were errors and omissions in the tax directory, which will be addressed soon. Dar said Pakistan decided to publish the details after the United Kingdom and United States objected over the country’s poor tax record.
