The tax directory of parliamentarians for the year 2018-19 shows former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi topped the list while paying an amount of over Rs241 million [Rs241,329,362] in taxes but Punjab Chief Usman Buzdar and Federal Minister Faisal Vawda didn’t pay a single penny.
According to 24NewsHD TV channel, the tax amount paid by Prime Minister Imran Khan and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif stood at Rs282,449 and Rs8,705,368 respectively.
Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto paid tax of Rs294,117. Pakistan Peoples Party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari paid Rs28 lac 91 thousand 455.
Industry Minister Hamad Azhar paid Rs22,445 in taxes. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi paid Rs183,900 and Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz paid Rs87,05,368 in taxes.
Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Sirajul Haq paid Rs216,800, Information Minister Shibli Faraz Rs367,460 and Azam Khan Swati Rs590,916. Chaudhry Tanveer Ahmed paid Rs32,038,733, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak paid Rs1,826,899 and Planning Minister Asad Umar paid Rs5,346,342 in taxes. Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid paid Rs579,011, Federal Minister Ghulam Sarwar Rs1,046,669, and Federal Minister Murad Saeed Rs374,728.
Federal Minister Ali Zaidi paid Rs896,191, Fawad Chaudhry Rs1,698,651 and PML-Nawaz leader Rana Sanaullah Rs1,388,075 in taxes. Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi gave 896,191, Sada Rafique 29,49,200, Rana Tanveer Hussain 386,751 and PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal paid Rs367,100 in taxes.
Former defence minister Khawaja Asif paid Rs437,119, Chaudhry Salik Hussain Rs497,000, Moonis Elahi paid Rs5,168,918 and Speaker Punjab Assembly Pervez Elahi paid Rs2,071,196 in taxes.
Former Health Minister Amir Mahmood Kayani and Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda did not pay any tax in 2018-19.
On the other hand, most of the tax collections for the year 2018-19 was made in Sindh with Punjab placed second.
In this connection, the province distribution of the tax collected from parliamentarians is given as: Sindh 44.91 percent, Punjab 34.99 percent, Islamabad 14.77 percent, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 3.54 percent and Balochistan 1.67 percent.
Sindh had paid Rs349 billion, Punjab Rs269 billion, Balochistan Rs13 billion, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rs29 billion, and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) paid income tax worth Rs115 billion.
When it comes to the overall tax collection in the country, the FBR says, Karachi again ranked first with an amount of Rs209,107,138,000 in 2018-19 when it comes to the cities. It was followed by Islamabad with Rs204,148,673,000, Faisalabad Rs16,264,148,000 and Gujranwala Rs7,926,264,000.
Meanwhile, the FBR also mentioned that the number of non-resident filers in 2018-19 was 64,014 out of a total of 2,852,349 tax filers.
As many as 1,356,813 individuals of the Punjab region filed tax, while 632,583 individuals from the Sindh region, 35,045 individuals from the Balochistan region, 133,745 individuals from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, and 114,987 individuals belonging from ICT paid tax in TY 2018-19.