Expressing lack of confidence in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the Senate Standing Committee on Finance has excluded certain provisions of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 from the Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2015, before approving it. A meeting of the committee headed by Saleem Mandviwala of the PPP recommended that fiscal offences under the Income Tax Ordinance should not be considered as part of the Anti-Money Laundering Bill. Mr Mandviwala criticised the FBR’s performance, while Ilyas Bilour said the board could not be allowed to include clauses about tax fraud in the anti-money laundering bill. How could “a corrupt organisation” be entrusted with such powers? Kamil Ali Agha and Fateh Mohammad Hassani supported Mr Bilour’s views and said that even if a person was framed in a false case under the anti-money laundering law, his or her valid visas would become invalid. This was the reason why the bill had stalled in the Senate to start off with, and these were the concerns raised during the debate in the standing committee, with three senators particularly alleging that the powers to pursue tax fraud were more likely to be misused to settle political scores. A diluted version of the bill was then passed, where the draconian powers to punish tax evaders were largely cut out. It would be easier to sympathise with the views aired by the dissenting senators were it not for the fact that politicians in Pakistan have become notorious worldwide for refusing to even file their returns, let alone pay anything in taxes. A brief glance at the parliamentarians tax directory on the FBR website shows that even after years of being exposed as tax evaders, these same senators and MNAs are continuing to file paltry amounts in taxes even as they live in palatial homes and move about in expensive four-wheel-drive SUVs. Kamil Agha, who was one of the three strong dissenters, filed Rs46,617 in taxes last year. Fateh Muhammad Hassani filed Rs386,792, meaning his taxable income would be less than Rs400,000 per month. In fact, of all the senators, 17 have a zero in front of their name on the tax directory, and many others have declared a taxable liability of less than Rs100,000, putting themselves in the lowest income bracket eligible for tax.
pk.shafaqna.com
