PTI must expose tax thieves but start from within

By
Umar Cheema
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PTI must expose tax thieves but start from within
ISLAMABAD: PTI Chairman Imran Khan declares the lawmakers of other parties as tax-evaders without realising that 82 percent of his MNAs and MPAs are not regular taxpayers either while the majority of the remaining 18 percent pay taxes that don’t match with their living standards, including Khan himself.

Imran has been rightly criticising the MPs for not being honest taxpayers but his sermons could have generated been consistent taxpayers in these two years. Nevertheless, their living style raises questions about the amount of tax paid. Even Imran Khan himself must explain if his tax payment for 2013 (Rs194,936) justifies his living style, foreign as well as domestic traveling.

A singer who sings revolutionary songs in Imran Khan’s dharna declared Rs854,964 as his income in 2012. He is an expensive singer and charges in millions for conducting a show. In his tax record, he has shown himself as an employee of thePakistan Army. One wonders in what capacity he serves the army. His business in tax record has been mentioned as “Multi-Faith International.”

As for the PTI lawmakers, there were as many as 34 MNAs until recently. Of them, 15 have not paid taxes for two consecutive years. They are Engineer Hamid-ul-Haq, Sajid Nawaz, Gulzar Khan, Siraj Muhammad Khan, Mujahid Ali, Aqibullah, Shehryar Afridi, Engineer Dawar Kundi, Murad Saeed, Salim Rehman, Junaid Akbar, Nafeesa Khattak (she owns Khiva Restaurant in Islamabad), Musarrat Ahmedzeb, Sajida Begum and Aisha Gulalai.

As many as five MNAs have paid once in two years (2012-13). Another 14 members turn out to be regular taxpayers like Imran Khan, Asad Umar, Shafqat Mehmood, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Amjad Ali Khan and Dr. Arif Alvi.

Dr. Alvi owns an expensive dental hospital in Karachi but his tax amount is Rs184,303. Although, he had claimed on twitter paying over Rs746,000 tax in 2013, the FBR record denies his claim. Imran’s tax amount (Rs194,936) is also questionable. One wonders how he maintains his 30 acre house in Banigala and frequents to London with meager resources. Shafqat Mehmood who lives in DHA Lahore paid only Rs168,100 in 2013.

The PTI has 55 MPAs in the KP Assembly and none of them is a regular taxpayer. As many as 22 MPAs are habitual non-taxpayers. Their record shows no payment in two years under examination (2012-13) and the remaining 33 members paid one-year at least. The list of habitual non-taxpayers includes KP Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Minister for Public Health Shah Farman, CM’s Special Assistant Soran Singh, former minister Shaukat Yousafzai, Muhammad Idrees, Ubaidullah Mayer, Ziaullah Khan, Fazal Hakim, Azizullah Khan, Amjad Ali, Muhibullah Khan, Mehmood Khan, Shakeel Ahmed, Naseem Hayat, Nadia Sher, Aisha Naeem, Nargis, Nagina Khan, Dina Naz, Bibi Fozia, Tufail Anjum, Javed Naseem, Mehmood Jan and Arbab Jehandad Khan.

The party has 30 MPAs in the Punjab Assembly and 12 of them are persistent non-taxpayers whereas another 14 did not pay in either year (2012-13). The MPAs who are habitual non-filers include Asif Mehmood, Ijaz Khan, Sibtain Khan, Masood Shafqat, Zaheer-ud-Din Alizai, Jahanzaib Khichi, Ahmed Ali Dareshak, Abdul Majeed Khan, Mian Mumtaz Ahmad, Nausheen Hamid, Raheela Anwar and Naheed Naeem.

The four regular taxpayers are opposition leader Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed whose Rs45,500 tax is equally questionable. One wonders how he makes his ends meet with such a low income having this amount of tax. The PTI had four MPAs in the Sindh Assembly and all of them were taxpayers.