At least 19 parliamentarians, including two members of National Assembly failed to pay any tax for the year that ended on June 30, 2016, according to the Parliamentarians Tax Directory released by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Thursday. According to FBR directory, 19 parliamentarians paid less than Rs 10,000 tax for the year ended June 30, 2016. At least 90 parliamentarians, including 16 senators and 10 MNAs failed to pay any tax for the year ended on June 30, 2014. However, the list was reduced and 26 parliamentarians, including seven senators and one MNA, failed to pay any tax for the year ended on June 30, 2015.

The two MNAs who paid 'zero' tax during the period ended on June 30, 2016 included: Mohammad Raza Hayat Hiraj and Muhammad Tufail - both belong to ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). At least 11 members of Punjab Provincial Assembly - Malik Taimoor Masood, Rai Muhamamd Usman Khan Kharal, Ali Asghar Manda, Ali Salman, Muhammad Akbar Hayat Harraj, Chaudhery Ishfaq Ahmed, Fida Hussain, Rana Abdul Rauf, Sumaira Sami, Naseem Lodhi and Haseena Begum - paid 'zero' tax during the said period.

About five members of Sindh Provincial Assembly who paid 'zero' tax during the year ended June 2016, included Abdul Sattar Rajper, Ali Nawaz Shah, Noor Ahmed Bhurguri, Owais Muzaffar and Hargun Das Ahuja. According to the directory, one member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly whose data reflected 'zero' tax payment is Saleh Muhammad. According to the Parliamentarians Tax Directory all the senators and all the 64 provincial members of Balochistan Assembly paid tax during the period under review.

The parliamentarians who paid less than Rs 10,000 included Fayaz Ali Butt (Rs 1,095) Muhammad Zubair Khan (Rs 1,240), Chauhdary Muhammad Shafique (Rs 3,050), Sardar Muhammad Bakhsh Khan Mahar (Rs 3,472), Haji Qalandar Khan Lodhi (Rs 3,500), Malik Nadeem Kamran (Rs 4,100), Malik Muhammad Iqbal Channar (4,100), Jehan Zeb Jamaldini (4,451), Khanzada Khan (5,460), former Justice Iftikhar Ahmad Cheema (Rs 5,997), Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan Nasar (Rs 6,987), Shah Farman (Rs 7,000), Shah Ram Khan (Rs 7,000), Imtiaz Shahid (Rs 7,000), Ahmed Khan Baloch (Rs 7,000), Khalil Tahir Sindu (Rs 8,200), Sardar Sher Ali khan Gorchani (Rs 8,742), Inamullah Khan Niazi (Rs 8,975), Malik Muhammad Javed Iqbal Awan (Rs 9,740).

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