He said that Pakistan is the fourth country of the world which is issuing tax directory of its parliamentarians. He said it was the commitment of PML-N government to publish Tax Directory of general taxpayers and parliamentarians and today we fulfilled our commitment. "It is fourth time that our government is issuing taxpayers' directory and Pakistan is the only fourth country in the world to publish such kind of directory," he said. The FBR has given additional one month period to those parliamentarians who are still under the process of filing of their tax returns and declarations. There were speculations that the government may not publish the details this year, however approval of the Federal Cabinet has been take for this purpose.
As per Tax Directory, this directory has been tabulated from Returns filed manually and electronically (till 26-Jul-2017). Manually filed Returns have been entered into the system. Certain Parliamentarian, whose names are marked by *, have share income as Members of Associations of Persons. Since, Association of Persons pay tax as a separate entity, such share is not taxable in the hands of the Members, it said. According to the tax directory, public trust and accountability across the board are the hallmarks of any strong democracy. The actions of public representatives in any democracy serve as an example for its citizens. Similarly, tax compliance by Parliamentarians plays an important role in promoting a culture of tax compliance in any country. Studies have shown that citizens exhibit a higher motivation to pay taxes when their public representatives act as role models by being tax compliant.
In order to fulfill its commitment to transparency and accountability, the government published a tax directory of parliamentarians for the tax years 2013, 2014 and 2015. This step was widely welcomed and appreciated as a measure to introduce greater transparency and promote a culture of tax compliance in the country. In line with the tradition of the last three years, a similar effort has been made to publish a tax directory of the Honorable Parliamentarians for the tax year 2016. The directory contains tax details of members of the Senate of Pakistan and Members of the National and Provincial Assemblies. Ishaq Dar said that he would like to appreciate the efforts of the Federal Board of Revenue for compiling and publishing this tax directory, says the tax directory.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017