ISLAMABAD, Feb 25: More than 2.03 million wealthy people in Punjab are not paying taxes.

Less than one million people in Sindh, 386,233 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 69,174 in Balochistan, 5,311 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 46,657 in AJK are evading taxes, revealed data compiled by NADRA and shared with the Federal Board of Revenue for action.

At the same time, tax returns filing rate in Punjab also falls behind the rest of the country.

In Punjab alone, 54 per cent people, who are taxpayers, did not file returns in 2012.

Data gathered from known sources identified five urban centres of the Punjab where 100,000 to 439,901 wealthy people living in palatial houses, owning luxurious cars, travelling frequently abroad, possessing arms, holding multiple bank accounts and paying hefty utility bills, were paying no income tax.

Lahore emerged as major city where 439,901 wealthy people did not pay taxes in 2012, followed by 208,274 people in Rawalpindi; 165,698 in Faisalabad; 116,748 in Sialkot and 110,864 in Gujranwala.

Similarly, in Multan the number of wealthy people who are not on the tax roll are 89,045; Gujrat 84,822; Sargodha 59,548; Rahim Yar Khan 56,561; Skeikhupura 52,979; Bahawalpur 42,742; Jhang 39,509; Jehlum 36,841; Toba Tek Singh 35,277; Sahiwal 33,990; Attock 33,495; and Okara 31,498.

The cities, which have more than 9,000 people, but there are less than 30,000 people who do not fall under the tax net include Mandi Bahauddin, Kasur, Vehari, Chakwal, Dera Ghazi Khan, Khanewal, Muzaffargarh, Narowal, Kotli, Hafizabad, Pakpattan, Khushab, Mirpur Khas, Lodhran, Leiah, Ranjanpur, Naushahro Feroze and Bhakkar.

However, Nankana Sahib has 3,190 people who do not figure on the tax roll followed by a mere 244 people in Chiniot who evade taxes.

In Sindh, Karachi emerged the leading city where 726,375 people did not figure on the tax roll, followed by Hyderabad 65,188; Sukkur 16,451; Khairpur 13,385; Dadu 12,565; Sanghar 12,187; Shaheed Benazir Abad 11,862; Ghotki 9,354. In terms of filing of tax returns, the number of non-filers in the province stood at 700,000. Of these, 665,896 taxpayers alone did not file returns in Karachi in 2012.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar has 89,518 people, who did not figure on tax roll followed by 35,292 in Mardan; Abbotabad 26,943, Mansehra 16,724 and D I Khan 9,983.

The non-filers of tax returns in Peshawar stood at 145,598 in tax year 2012.

Quetta emerged as leading city in Balochistan where the number of people, who are not on the tax roll, stood at 36,925.

Other cities of the province share 32,249 people who are not on the tax map.

In terms of filing of tax returns, in Quetta 41,085 people did not file their returns in 2012 although they exist in the tax roll.

In Mirpur (AJK) 15,478 people are paying no taxes, followed by 8,687 in Poonch; 7,826 in Bhimber and 6,462 in Muzaffarabad.

In GB, Gilgit has 2,794 people who did not figure on the tax roll, followed by Baltistan 1,055 and Diamir 627.