A press report points out that two weeks past the deadline, many members of the Senate, National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies have failed to file their assets declaration, which is a mandatory requirement under Section 42-a of the People's Representation Act, 1976, as well as Section 25-A of the Senate (Elections) Act, 1975. If this is not bad enough the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has also shirked its responsibility to make public the violators' list. Worse still, an estimated 47 percent of the legislators in the current assemblies most of whom come from the highest income groups do not pay income tax. In fact, some of them have not bothered even to acquire a national tax number. These are the people who decide, among other things, bread and butter matters for the entire nation.
It is worthwhile to note that non-filers and tax evaders are almost evenly distributed among all political parties represented in Parliament. Unfortunately, however, members of the nation's legislative forums consider themselves above the law, and use their privileged positions to retain and/or to seek entitlements. An ECP official, for instance, is quoted as saying that the Commission had proposed to the parliamentary committee on electoral reforms that those who did not submit asset declarations by the deadline should be suspended for at least three months. Instead a sub-committee parliamentary panel came up with the suggestion that the requirement of annual statements of assets should be dropped, saying income tax returns should be sufficient. The committee said this despite the fact that the rules require all tax filers earning incomes beyond a certain limit to submit assets statements. The ECP for its part did not do any good to its own image by making the suggestion it did. For, it is not the business of the Commission to make recommendations aimed at protecting the interests of a privileged class while all other citizens have to fulfil a different set of obligations.
As pointed out earlier, under the People's Representation Act, the ECP is under obligation to disqualify non-filers. Wrong declaration of income or assets too can lead to disqualification. Still, wrong declaration by legislators is rampant even though candidates furnish a signed undertaking at the time of filing nomination papers that "...failure to give details regarding any item of this form shall render my nomination to contest election invalid, or any information given herein above is found incorrect at any time, my election shall stand void ab initio." If nearly half of the members do not pay income tax, it is more than obvious that information they give about assets too is stated incorrectly. Yet so far the ECP has not disqualified a single legislator on this account. The usual excuse is that it has no way of obtaining correct information on either incomes or assets. But where there is a will there is always a way. At least the non-filers can be held to account. The FBR also needs to pay attention to the issue and bring this rich class into the tax net. Only naming and shaming the violators will force the lawmakers to accord due respect to the law of the land.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2015

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