ISLAMABAD: Parliamentarians on Wednesday criticised the Federal Board of Revenue and held it responsible for leakage of confidential tax return information to a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO). In a rare demonstration of unanimity, senior leaders of all the political parties assembled in the Senate Standing Committee on Finance meeting to inquire from the FBR as to how the confidential information about the parliamentarians' tax return was leaked out or handed over to media.
The members of the committee devised a joint strategy ahead of seeking an explanation from the FBR during an in-camera meeting where even staff of the committee except secretary was not allowed to enter. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Kamal Ali Agha of Pakistan Muslim League (Q), Jahangir Badr, Farhatullah Babar, Saeed Ghani of Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Senator Ishaq Dar of Pakistan Muslim League (N), Haji Adeel, Ilyas Bilour of Awami National Party (ANP) and Colonel Tahir Mashahdi (Retd) of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) attended the meeting presided over by the Chairperson Nasreen Jalil of MQM.
Most of the parliamentarians wanted the high-ups of the FBR to release immediately an official rebuttal of the report's contents that was meant to malign the parliamentarians and politicians. The chairperson asked how the confidential information about their tax returns reached media on which Kamil Ali Agha said it could not have reached media without the connivance of the FBR officials. Agha said the FBR was responsible for the leakage and their briefing to the committee is self-contradictory because if no one from the FBR was involved in the leakage then why they are conducting the inquiry.
Dar said it is not an issue whether the data of the NGO is right or wrong but the real concern of the committee is as to how the confidential information was leaked to the media. He added that either this was done in connivance with the FBR or was there some problem in the Board system. The committee wanted to know about the action plan of the FBR in response to the problem, he added.
Senator Kulsoom Parveen, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Haji Adeel said the FBR should issue a statement to clarify the situation whereas Senator Tahir Mashahdi said it has been done to malign the parliamentarians. He said that it is a conspiracy against the politicians to defame the image of the parliamentarians. He further added that FBR was deducting tax from the salaries of parliamentarians at source upon which Senator Ishaq Dar proposed that the FBR should establish offices in the parliament and provincial assemblies to provide National Tax Numbers (NTNs) to them.
Senator Farhatullah Babar inquired from the FBR whether or not it shared details of the tax returns with Election Commission of Pakistan or National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra). The chairman of the committee concluded the meeting after receiving an assurance from the FBR Chairman that the inquiry would be completed in two weeks with remarks that parliamentarians must set an example. She said that tax-to-GDP ratio is very low and suggested that agriculture income should be taxed.