The Minister was speaking during a meeting of the Senate''s Standing on Finance convened to grill the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) about how and why classified and confidential information of tax returns was leaked to the media. Mandviwalla told members of the committee not to take media reports seriously because "such things will continue to appear in newspapers".
His suggestion offended Parliamentarians, especially Haji Adeel of Awami National Party who retorted that the Minister would not have made such remarks if he had to go to the people for election. Senator Ishaq Dar advised the media to highlight the five percent decrease in tax-to-GDP ratio and urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to focus on it. He said that the decrease meant a revenue loss of Rs 1,500 billion and tax authorities should diligently work to bring the amount back to the national exchequer otherwise it would be difficult to run the country''s affairs.
Chairperson of the Committee Nasreen Jalil of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) said it was alarming that only half percent people of the country''s total population paid taxes on personal income. She remarked: "With such a low tax-to-GDP ratio, we are heading towards a disaster."