ISLAMABAD: The Pakis­tan Tehreek-i-Insaf lashed out at the government on Sunday for what its chief spokesperson called deliberately misreporting PTI chief Imran Khan’s income and tax payment details.

In the newly launched directory of taxes paid by lawmakers and unveiled by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Mr Khan was shown to have paid only Rs76,244 in tax last year.

In a press statement, PTI information secretary Naeemul Haq claimed that details of the PTI chairman’s sources of income and detailed expenditures were accessible to both national institutions and the general public.

He clarified that the chairman met his day-to-day expenditures from the income he received from ancestral agricultural land and his own savings, adding that the latter had declined by Rs20 million over the past two years.

Therefore, Mr Haq said: “It is condemnable on the part of the government to create confusion about his (Mr Khan’s) income and tax details.”

Explaining further, the spokesperson said that Mr Khan paid Rs400,000 in tax on his agricultural income and Rs76,000 on his available cash, adding that the entire information wasn’t just available on the party’s website, but it had also been provided to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the PTI chairman has posted a clarification on his official Twitter page, saying: “The PML-N propaganda against me viz my income & taxes. Fact is I have paid all taxes on my income including agri income. Details are in my tax returns.

“All my financials are fully transparent and available to the public. Nothing is hidden. During last 2 yrs I have spent more than Rs2 crore from my personal savings in my acct & details were on PTI website (sic).”

Published in Dawn September 12th, 2016