ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan’s first year in government led to a sharp increase in his income tax payment, from Rs 282,449 in the tax year 2018 to Rs 9.85 million (Rs 985,000+) in 2019, while Shehbaz Sharif’s tax payments decreased.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) released its 2019 tax directory for parliamentarians on Monday, which revealed that Prime Minister Imran Khan paid Rs9.8 million in tax, while opposition leaders Shehbaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari paid Rs7.1 million and Rs0.535 million, respectively, in taxes. Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin presented the seventh tax directory of the legislators at the Federal Board of Revenue headquarters after a two-year delay. There is still a wait for the directories for the 2020 and 2021 tax years.
Imran Khan paid more income tax than opposition leaders, Shehbaz Sharif, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Asif Zardari, and others. PML-N President Nawaz Sharif paid Rs8.242 million less in taxes for the 2019 tax year compared to the previous year’s Rs 9.73 million and the 2017 tax year’s Rs10.29 million, a decrease of 15.3 percent. In 2019, his son Hamza Shehbaz paid Rs 7.104 million in taxes, a decrease of 18.34 per cent from 2018.
PTI MNA Muhammad Najeeb Haroon is the highest-taxpaying legislator, having paid Rs 140.749m in taxes for the tax year 2019, almost the same amount he paid a year earlier. Talha Mehmood paid Rs 32.280 million, followed by Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin at Rs 26.627 million.
The PTI government’s two-year delay in releasing the 2018 tax year directory is notable. This year’s parliamentary tax directory was to be issued in March but there has been delay by the administration. A controversial mini-budget that seeks to remove Rs 343 billion in sales taxes is still waiting for parliamentary approval.
Parliament
It has been revealed that 93 legislators have not filed their tax returns for 2019, while the identity cards of 63 parliamentarians have been missing from their returns. Ashfaq Ahmed, the chairperson of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), stated that this year, they had introduced extra columns to represent revenue under several categories, such as regular, presumptive, and agricultural.
The total tax payment made on behalf of a legislator by an organisation of associations of persons (AOP) in which that legislator is also a member led to some perplexity. It has also been disclosed this year, on the recommendation of the Cabinet. So, the proportion of a parliamentarian’s tax paid by AOP is revealed. Parliamentarians can contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to have their tax records updated if there are any problems with the data, according to the FBR’s chair. Speaker of the National Assembly Asad Qaiser was paid Rs555,794, while his AOP tax totalled Rs1.434m.
According to statistics provided in the new format, 312 MNAs submitted income tax returns this year, compared to 311 last year, according to statistics. Among these, 144 MNAs (46%) claimed the agricultural income as well. Asif Ali Zardari, co-chair of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), paid Rs2.218 million in the tax year 2019, compared to Rs2.89 million a year earlier, a decrease of 23.25 per cent. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari paid Rs 535,243 in taxes in the year 2019, compared to Rs 294,117 in the previous year, according to AFP.
Mr Zardari reported Rs 136.048 million in agricultural income, while his son declared Rs 29.666 million.
Khusro Bakhtiar, a member of the PTI, was the second-highest-earning legislator in Pakistan’s agriculture sector, earning Rs 42.987 million. Mr Bakhtiar, on the other hand, paid just Rs158,100 in income taxes in 2019.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the Foreign Minister, was paid Rs. 0.9 million, while Planning and Development Minister Asad Umer was paid Rs. 4.3 million in the federal cabinet. Khan paid Rs 957,000 in his capacity, whereas Azhar paid Rs 29,025 in his capacity, and his AOP tax was Rs 18.1 million.
After paying Rs241.32 million in taxes in 2018, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the high-tax-paying legislator, currently owes just Rs4.871 million in taxes for the 2019 fiscal year. Minority MNAs Jai Parkash and Dr Darshan, Dr Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro, Qadir Khan Mandokhail, and Ms Syma Nadeem were among the lowest taxpayers. 124 of the MNAs had a taxable income of less than Rs50,000, making up the majority. 45 people paid less than Rs 100k, while 36 people paid less than Rs 200k. Over 90 MNAs paid between Rs 300,000 and Rs 10 million in taxes.
Senate
Compared to the previous year, i.e., 2018, 90 senators filed their income tax returns in the tax year 2019. Of the 80 senators, 19 highlighted earnings from their land. Agricultural income is free from income tax under the 2001 income tax legislation, although the same is taxable in other provinces. There was no information on the amount of agricultural income tax paid by lawmakers.
According to statistics by Senate chair Sadiq Sanjarani, former Prime Minister and Pakistan People’s Party Senator Yusuf Raza Gilani did not pay any income tax in 2019 but reported Rs 10 million in agricultural income.
Senator Muzaffar Hussain Shah comes in second with Rs 9 million in farm income, followed by Senator Muhammad Ali Shah Jamot with Rs 7.5 million.
Irfan-ul-Haque Siddiqui, Syed Faisal Ali Subzwari, Gurdeep Singh, Umar Farooq, and Khalida Ateeb are the senators that pay the least in taxes.
Provincial
Syed Murad Ali Shah of Sindh paid Rs1.099 million in taxes, followed by Abdul Quddus Bizenjo of Balochistan at Rs66,258 million and Mahmood Khan of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at Rs1.061 million. Usman Bazdar paid just Rs2,000 in taxes in 2019, compared to the previous year, when he paid no taxes at all.
Thirteen members of the Balochistan legislature failed to file their tax filings for 2019. Mir Akbar Askani paid Rs 13.390 million in taxes, while former CM Jamal Kamal paid Rs 11.750 million. At Rs420,600, Mahjabeen Sheeren paid the lowest tax bill in the province.
Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind, a Balochistan MPA, reported the highest agricultural income of all lawmakers at Rs 294.626 million, followed by Nawabzada Tariq Magsi.
At least 32 members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly did not file tax returns in 2019. At Rs 12.11 million, Amjad Khan Afridi paid the most in taxes. Faisal Shakoor Khan came in second, owing Rs5.63 million in taxes. Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Khan paid Rs144,145 in taxes; Ravi Kumar, Samar Haroon Bilour, Waqar Ahmad Khan, and Muhammad Abdus Salam paid the lowest taxes.
42 of the 369 members of the Punjab Assembly did not file their 2019 tax returns. Mumtaz Ali, Sheikh Alla ud Din, and Amjad Mehmood Chaudhry were the top three taxpayers, each with Rs 29.678 million (Rs 8.362m).
Unpredictably, over 120 Punjab MPAs paid less than Rs 10,000 in income tax, with several others owing as little as Rs 2,000 or even Rs 1,000. Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht, Sardar Husnain Bahadar Dreshak, and Mumtaz Ali claimed Punjab’s highest agricultural income of Rs 31.19 million, followed by Rs 22 million and Rs 8.812 million, respectively.
Even though 19 of the 168 members of the Sindh Assembly did not submit tax returns for 2018, their names appear on the state’s tax register for 2019. Ali Gohar Khan Mahar and Mumtaz Ali paid Rs 9.786 million in taxes in the assembly, while Ali Gholam, Faraz Dero, Syed Hashim Raza Jilani paid the lowest amount, and Abdul Bari Pitafi. At Rs 48 million, Mumtaz Hussain Jakhrani claimed the province’s highest agricultural income. He was followed by Ali Hasan, who earned Rs 58.95 million, Nadir Ali Magsi, who earned Rs 43 million, and Shaejeel Inam, who earned Rs 35 million.
