The tax authorities are said to have kept an eagle eye on the great Abhishek-Aishwarya wedding with as much interest as the papparazzi.

But the Megastar of the Millennium prempted their zooming in on him too by announcing that he is the "top" tax payer in the country with Rs 15.59 crore and with Aishwarya Rai joining the family, the Bachchan family's total tax would be around Rs 25.3 crore for 2006-2007.

As a matter of fact he was reacting to a newspaper report that quoted Hrithik Roshan as the highest tax payer with Rs 15.10 crore and Shah Rukh Khan paid Rs 14 crore.

Expressing surprise at the report and doubt about its veracity since his name does not appear anywhere among the biggest taxpayers in the entertainment business. That certainly makes it look like a deliberate ploy and slyly hint to the tax authorities that though Amitabh Bachchan make pots of money he doesn't pay up enough taxes.

Clarifying that he tops the taxpayers of the country, the Big B has said, "If you look at the figures for the year 2006-2007, you'll see Amitabh, that's yours truly, has paid Rs 14.15 crore and from our company AB Corp Ltd where all the earnings are mine, we've paid Rs 1.44 crore.

"Abhishek Bachchan has paid Rs 4.75 crore. And now that Aishwarya Rai is a part of the family, approximately Rs 5 crore tax money has come from her. This makes it a total of Rs 25.3 crore."

Amitabh also questioned the intentions of the newspaper in placing Hrithik (Rs 15.10 crore) as the topmost taxpayer because even if Amitabh's tax figures (Rs 15.59 crore) are taken individually, "I still top." - (SAMPURN)