Over 100 MPs in Pakistan not paying income tax

New Delhi, Dec 23 (IANS) More than 100 members of parliament in Pakistan are either not paying income tax or are not registered with the Pakistan Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), The News reported.

As many as 161 of 1,170 MPs in Pakistan have not paid tax on their income nor have filed any tax returns. These MPs are in violation of tax laws while collectively owning assets worth Rs 35 billion. Official records show that some are not even registered with the tax authorities.

Official documents examined by Geo News have disclosed that more than 103 MPs have collective assets of Rs 8 billion but are not active taxpayers. A few dozen are not even registered with the FBR as taxpayers.

As many as 76 of these 103 MPs represent major political parties; two are ministers in Pak Prime Minister Imran Khan's cabinet.

Official records show that these MPs are in the 'in-active taxpayers' list'. Four MPs, who are not active taxpayers, have purchased properties collectively worth millions of dollars in Dubai, Norway and London in the last decade. Around a dozen among them have had declared businesses namely construction companies, petrol pumps, etc in the country, the report said.

The Parliamentarians Tax Directory for the fiscal year 2018 did not carry a tax record of around 323 of the total 1,170 MPs. As many as 847 MPs collectively paid around Rs 1.6 billion in taxes for the year 2018-19, according to the FBR directory. The directory carries tax credentials of total 1,008 MPs, while tax columns of 161 MPs have been left blank and some names were missing from this important official document, the report said.