Only 1.5 Million Ghanaians Pay Taxes – Tax Consultant
About one million, five hundred thousand (1.5m) Ghanaians honor their tax obligations out of the six million (6 million) qualified businesses and individuals across the country.
Speaking at a workshop on Promoting Equity in tax incentives and tax exemptions in Ghana organised by Anti Corruption Coalition (GACC) in Accra on Tuesday, Mr. John Okyere, a tax consultant raised concerns about government innefective to meet its tax revenue obligations.
According to the tax consultant, ” in terms of Domestic Revenue Mobilization (DRM), Ghana has one of the lowest tax to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratios in Africa”.
Touching on tax policies of the two major political parties in the country, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) pointed out that the ruling NPP was silent on direct taxes, which are usually seen as the best way to promoting equality and fairness in the system, while the opposition NDC’s manifesto for the 2020 elections focuses in reforming the tax system by introducing a low tax regime / system and broadening the tax base to make the rate lower.
He proposes that if Ghana can adopt the best practices in collecting taxes in the medium and small businesses at a reduced rate would improve compliance.
On COVID 19 Relieve fund, he revealed that organizations and individuals have donated $17 million into fund.
He said the fund has contributed immensely towards the government’s response efforts.
