Islamabad, Jan 3 (PTI) Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan paid Rs 9.8 million in taxes in 2019 while one of the lawmakers of his party paid Rs 140 million as income tax, according to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) which released details of the tax paid by the parliamentarians on Monday.

The data showed that Leader of the Opposition and Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz chief Shehbaz Sharif paid Rs 8.2 million income tax while Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari paid Rs 0.53 million. Former president and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari paid Rs 2.2 million.

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The FBR's 2019 Tax Directory for federal and provincial elected representatives showed that Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, who is also a famous banker, paid Rs 26.6 million while former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi paid Rs 4.9 million income tax in 2019.

The directory shows that Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi paid Rs 0.9 million income tax, Planning Minister Asad Umer paid Rs 4.3 million and Energy Minister Hammad Azhar paid Rs 29,025 income tax.

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Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf lawmaker from Karachi, Muhammad Najeeb Haroon, paid Rs 140 million as income tax.

Former prime minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Yusuf Raza Gilani did not pay income tax, according to the tax directory.

Among the four chief ministers, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah paid Rs 1.1 million income tax, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar paid just Rs 2,000, Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo Rs 1.1 million and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan paid Rs 66,258 income tax.

Finance Minister Tarin said that it was important for parliamentarians to make their tax returns public as it would ensure transparency and set an example for others.

He also urged the FBR to further simplify the tax system.

"We take withholding taxes because we are unable to collect it from other means. We should have two kinds of taxes: income tax and consumption tax. There should be no other taxes apart from this," he said.

The finance minister also said that it was time to adopt the system of "progressive taxation".

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)