ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Ali Arshad Hakim said here on Tuesday that the FBR will disclose the total number of parliamentarians, who paid taxes and the total amount paid by them. On the conclusion of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance meeting here at the Parliament House, Ali Arshad Hakim informed media that the individual information about tax payments of Members National Assembly and Senate cannot be disclosed due to relevant provisions of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001.
However, the FBR will share the total number of parliamentarians who pays taxes and the total amount of tax paid by them. "We will share the collective information pertaining to taxes paid by the Members National Assembly and Senate," he added. During the committee proceedings, he informed the committee that the data of parliamentarians would be made public on Wednesday (today) as directed by the committee. The personal tax related information is confidential and cannot be publicly disclosed.
About the issuance of Tax Directory containing names and tax paid by the Parliamentarians, the FBR chairman said that the information cannot be shared due to disclosure laws. He said that a realistic approach has been adopted for broadening the tax-base in view of capacity and prevailing tax culture.
He said that immunity is available to the foreign remittances under section 111(4) of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 which is an exemption. The agriculture income is not exempted from return filing and they are liable to file returns. About the Tax Registration & Enforcement Initiative, FBR Chairman said that the FBR has estimated to collect Rs 120-150 billion from the scheme during the first year of its enforcement. The FBR has identified 3.8 million potential taxpayers with luxurious lifestyle.
The persons included repeated foreign travels, multiple bank accounts, heavy utilities' consumption, expensive vehicles, posh residences, weapons, credit cards, education, profession and family patterns (vacations, children studying abroad, etc). It is difficult to bring these potential persons into the tax net by using traditional method of documentation. The regular procedure is not possible due to capacity issues in regular procedure. For example, regular enforcement to be even more difficult during caretaker set-up without Parliamentary Bill. Practically, the pre-emptive punishment to 2.96 million people is not possible. Moreover, many countries have benefited from increase in tax collection and tax base through such schemes.
Sharing distortions in the taxation system, Ali Arshad Hakim stated that 700,000 people pay taxes out of total population of 180 million. On average basis, annual tax paid comes to Rs 13,800 whereas in three years period this tax comes to around Rs 40,000. Therefore, the FBR has proposed a registration amount of Rs 40,000 for availing the Tax Registration & Enforcement Initiative.
The FBR chairman said that only 100 companies pay 82 percent sales tax. He referred to a cigarette manufacturer that taxes paid by one tobacco company are equal to the taxes by the salaried class whereas 25 percent tax comes from POL at various stages. Out of total tax collected, 37.5 percent tax collected at ports, 12 percent of Income Tax collected in Karachi port under presumptive income regime, 3.1 percent tax comes from salaried class, whereas effective sales tax rate is 3.63 percent.