Highest and Lowest Taxpayers in the Senate

 Members of Parliament (MP) generally refer to each other as ‘honorable member’. It is widely held tradition in the Commonwealth Countries. However, the findings of CIRP investigation into their 2011 taxes call into question their right to be called as ‘honorable member’. According to Article 77 of the Constitution of Pakistan, the Parliament is the only institution authorized to impose taxes for the Federation. However, the lawmakers who levy taxes have exhibited unimpressive record of leading by example when it comes to paying taxes.

We have shown top five and bottom five tax-paying Senators. Aitzaz Ahsan is the top taxpayer. His 2011 tax details have been gathered from his nomination papers as he was elected in March 2012. However, the FBR’s electronic database that records the names of e-filers did not have his data. Mushahid Hussain Sayed leads in the bottom five taxpaying Senators’ list who filed returns. Since he was also elected in March 2012, his nomination papers were examined wherein he claims Rs. 582 as income tax but the amount reflected in FBR’s database shows Rs 82.

Taxes of PM and Cabinet

‘Honorable’ MNAs and Their Auditable Taxes

Former PM Yousaf Raza Gillani and his 25 cabinet members had acknowledged in the nomination papers for the February 2008 general elections that they did not pay a penny as income tax. Gillani even registered for NTN in 2010 when he was 52-year old, one-and-half-year before quitting the PM office after his conviction by the Supreme Court. The analysis of 2011 tax records shows further non-compliance by the cabinet members.

In the National Assembly, there are 341 MNAs against the sanctioned strength of 342 as one seat is vacant. Those who paid income tax constitutes 26% of the entire lot as 90 MNAs did so and 235 (69%) did not. The nomination papers of 16 MNAs (5%) were either not available from ECP or the details like NTN and CNIC numbers essential for determining tax status from the FBR database were incorrectly mentioned. They couldn’t be examined, therefore.

 ‘Honorable’ Senators and Their Questionable Taxes

Who’s Who of the Assembly and Their Taxes

There are 104 Senators; only 38 of them filed tax returns and 65 did not. One Senator from the calamity-hit area claimed in his nomination papers he was exempted from income tax. Among the non-filers were 11 Senators elected in March 2012. They claimed paying taxes in 2011 in their nomination papers, however, the FBR database hosting the record of the return filers does not support their claim. Nevertheless, the tax details obtained from the nomination papers have been enlisted.

There are 73 MNAs holding important positions in the National Assembly. The first group comprises 12 MNAs elected for the slots of Speaker and Deputy Speaker, Leader of the House and Leader of the Opposition, and Parliamentary Leaders of the political parties. Speaker National Assembly, Dr. Fehmida Mirza, is the highest taxpayer while Parliamentary Leader of NPP Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi is the lowest taxpayer in this group. Seven non-filers are also among them.

 Key Office-holders In the Senate And their Taxes

There are 45 Senators at important positions in the Senate. The first group comprises the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman, Leader of the House, Leader of the Opposition and Parliamentary Leaders of the political parties in Senate. Abbas Khan Afridi, a parliamentary leader of the FATA Senators, is top taxpayer among them. Ishaq Dar, Leader of the Opposition and a former Finance Minister, is the lowest taxpayer in this group.

The tables below list details of top-five and bottom-five tax-paying MNAs. Jehangir Tareen is the top taxpayer. He was a PML-F MNA when 2011 tax returns were filed, and has therefore been considered. Sheikh Rohail Asghar of the PML-N is the lowest tax-payer among MNAs who filed returns