Noor Saleem Malik, a member of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly has emerged the highest taxpayer with Rs 25.6 million among members of all four provincial assemblies. Malik was followed by Sardar Zahoor Ahmed, another MPA from KP provincial assembly, with Rs 11.5 million. Haji Qalandar Khan Lodhi paid the lowest tax of Rs 3,500. Of the 115 members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, only one failed to file his tax returns. Chief Minister Pervez Khattak paid Rs 813,869.

Out of 65 members of Balochistan Assembly, 57 members filed their tax returns and only one of them paid less than Rs 1 million, which is unprecedented, compared to other provinces. Akber Askaani paid the highest, Rs 2.6 million, while Mir Aamir Khan Rind paid the lowest tax of Rs 950,614. Chief Minister Sardar Sanaullah Zehri paid Rs 1.4 million. Of the 371 members of the Punjab Assembly in the directory, 40 did not file the returns for 2016.

Sheikh Alaudin is the highest taxpayer with Rs 13.8 million, followed by Chief Minister Punjab Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif Rs 9.531 million and Ch Arshad Javaid Warraich Rs 8.9 million. Ten members of Punjab Assembly who did not pay tax are Malik Taimoor Masood, Rai Muhammad Usman Khan Kharal, Muhammad Akbar Hayat Harraj, Ali Asghar Manda, Ali Salman, Chaudhery Ishfaq Ahmed, Fida Hussain, Rana Abdul Rauf, Mrs Sumaira Sami and Mrs Naseem Lodhi. The least income tax paid by an MPA is Chaudhry Muhammad Shafique, Rs 3,050.

Of the 168 members of the Sindh Assembly, only four filed nil statements but their names exist on the tax roll. Those are Abdul Sattar Rajper, Ali Nawaz Shah, Owais Muzaffar and Hargun Gas Ahuja. According to the tax directory, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah paid Rs 5.1 million. Engineer Pesu Mal is the highest taxpayer in the assembly with Rs 8.6 million. The lowest tax paid is by Fayaz Ali Butt, Rs 1,095.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017