Islamabad: Pakistan’s National Assembly (NA) has adopted a resolution to form a committee to review the assets held by members of parliament who are not paying tax.
The resolution was tabled by Asad Omar, a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker, and was passed unanimously.
PTI chief Imran Khan said in the NA that all his assets were in Pakistan. The tax income of the country stands between 1.3 trillion and 2.4 trillion Pakistan rupees (Dh48.6 billion and Dh89.8 billion), while its expenses come to Rs4 trillion.
If the GDP growth rate remains the same then Pakistan will not be able to give any thing to its children in future, Khan said. The poor will grow poorer if tax collection is not boosted, he warned.
Sahibzada Tariq Ullah of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) said a special committee had been set up on the matter of filing of income tax returns by members of parliament.
However, information minister Senator Pervez Rashid said it seems from the speech of Asad Omar as if he was representing undemocratic forces.
Defence minister Khawaja Asif said all the institutions defend their representatives. Parliament is the supreme law-making institution and one should avoid using insulting remarks against it, Asif said.
The Speaker said all members were respectable to him and there should be no finger pointing.
Makhdoom Javed Hashemi of PTI said assets of the national leaders should be made public and they should be brought into the tax net. Politicians are holding more assets than the people, he said.
