The Executive Director for Revenue Mobilisation Africa and a tax expert, Geoffrey Ocansey has revealed that the introduction of new taxes by the government is not what we need as a country but rather to protect the existing ones with strict measures to block all the leakages in the revenue mobilization network.
Mr. Ocansey in an interview on Plan B FM’s late afternoon show EBAANOSEN in connection with the alert from Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) of further increases in the prices of goods and services in the coming days due to constant tax increment.
Geoffrey Ocansey urged the government to improve tax compliance and also improve the perception of the tax system by strengthening the institutional capacity for revenue mobilization and block the leakages.
” If taxes on business keeps increasing, businesses will suffer and they will be forced to increase the prices of their products and also lay off workers to reduce the production cost which will also lead to unemployment”
“if the government keeps increasing taxes every day it is the poor and customer that will suffer the most in the country,” he indicated.
“It was revealed in 2020 Auditor Generals report that GH¢12bn ($2bn) was lost to revenue leakages, an amount significant to the Ghanaian economy”
The Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) is alerting the public of further increases in the prices of goods and services in the coming days.
The chamber says this is a result of the signing into law of three new tax bills by President Akufo-Addo.
It posits that
”these taxes are going to force businesses to pass on the cost in the form of prices to customers. So we should brace ourselves for an increase in prices of goods and services”
“Businesses are not even making profits and cannot absorb these taxes. If you take the excise duty, for instance, businesses will have no option than to push the prices to consumers.”
“If you take the Growth and Sustainability levy, the businesses are not making profits and you want to tax 5% out of it. So, what we’re saying is that we don’t want businesses to collapse” Mark Badu-Aboagye, Chief Executive of GNCCI disclosed on April 17.
Again, Mr. Badu-Aboagye said the International Monetary Fund would not be happy to see businesses collapsing because the amount of money that will be spent on resuscitating affected businesses will be too much.
“I don’t think the IMF will be happy to see our businesses collapse because the amount of money that we will spend resuscitating the businesses and bringing them back to profitable level will be more than the $3 billion that we are looking for”.
He concluded that businesses expect taxes that will generate revenue for the government and ensure businesses can operate efficiently and profitably.
Gains made with a significant decline in inflation for March which was pegged at 45% will be thwarted by any increase in the prices of goods and services, according to the Ghana Statistical Service.
Lending rates will also remain higher when inflation surges.
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