ISLAMABAD - The seriousness of the PML-N government to expose non-payment of taxes by parliamentarians can be gauged from the fact that special parliamentary committee formed to present report in 90 days met only once in two months.
This special parliamentary committee was formed over two months ago to expose the lawmakers involved in tax evasion. Although the parliamentary body is set to meet on July 15, yet the question arises how the committee will manage to review tax details of over 1,100 lawmakers.
A member of the parliamentary body, requesting anonymity, said that the committee might not be able to achieve meaningful results, as rehashing the tax directory, which has already been published, will serve no purpose. "What is the point behind holding in-camera meeting on this issue? If the committee only publishes its tax directory then it will be a useless exercise," he said, adding that meeting of the committee has been scheduled on July 15 to decide how to start working on it.
The treasury benches lawmakers despite showing unease over a perceived attempt to belittle parliament two months before (25th April) had unanimously adopted an opposition motion to form a formal committee to resolve this matter.
Sharing details of the single meeting held so far, the member of the committee said the parliamentary committee has only decided about its head to chair the meeting.
"Proper mandate of the committee has not been decided in two months while some of government benches are even trying to publish a directory mentioning those who submitted tax returns," said sources, adding that the mechanism to expose the parliamentarians involved in non-payment of taxes still remains undecided.
When contacted, PTI MNA Asad Umar said that the parliamentary committee will meet for the second time on July 15. "Working of the parliamentary body will be decided in the meeting," he informed avoiding to share more details, arguing that all the committee meeting will be in-camera.
The economic wizard from the third largest opposition party (PTI) has the credit to initiate debate on his motion about non-payment of taxes by parliamentarians in the National Assembly, which eventually made the speaker to form a ten-member committee to probe non-payment of taxes.
The matter of non-payment of taxes by parliamentarians has remained a hot issue in and outside the parliament for the last couple of months, as even verbal brawls were witnessed among the lawmakers on this matter. The incumbent government, a couple of months before, unveiled the income tax returns of the elected representatives for the first time in the history of the country.
The committee comprises Pervaiz Malik, Omar Ayub, Rana Afzal Khan, Mian Abdul Manan, Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh, Sheikh Rohail Asghar, Shazia Mari, Asad Umar, Abdul Rashid Godil and Asiya Nasir.
The critics say that the tax directory is only about the income tax paid by the lawmakers of the country and misses an important portion, as source of income of the parliamentarians is not mentioned in the directory.
The directory shows that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif paid Rs 2.66 million income tax in the year 2013. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar paid Rs 824,991 income tax. PTI Chairman Imran Khan paid Rs 194,936 income tax.
The World Bank in the first week of April also revealed in its report that a total of 88 members of the federal and provincial cabinets in Pakistan paid a total tax of Rs 35 million of which Rs28 million came from the federal cabinet members.