The government and Ofori-Atta are perplexed – Abraham Koomson

General Secretary of the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL) Abraham Koomson has criticized Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta and the government for the new tax revenues that were introduced and subsequently approved by Parliament.

The three revenue bills are Excise Duty, Growth and Sustainability Levy and Income Amendment Bills. They are awaiting presidential assent to be enforced.

Mr Koomson indicated that the new taxes came at a time Ghanaians were already paying seventeen other taxes.

To that end, he said, the new taxes were needless.

“This government, they are confused especially the Finance Minister who doesn’t know what he is doing. Already, about seventeen taxes are being paid, we have import duty which is 5%, import VAT 15%, processing fee, ECOWAS Levy, Network Charge VAT, Network Charge Covid-19 levy, Health, Ghana’s Shippers Authority SNF fee, Import National Health Insurance, Network Charge National Health Insurance, IRS Tax deposit, Special Import Levy…

“Seventeen taxes that are being paid before these three new ones so we don’t need taxes again.

“Fortunately for us, we got wind of these new taxes that Ofori-Atta wanted to impose on us so we petitioned Parliament through the Speaker dated 3rd February 2023. GUTA also petitioned, AGI petitioned, to the extent that AGI even gave recommendations, they wanted engagements with Finance Committee of Parliament… the Food and Beverages Association of Ghana also petitioned, we even followed up, we went to parliament to meet the leadership there, for the speaker we couldn’t access him, we went there several times but he was involved in other things so we couldn’t access him.

“Our problem now is that the taxes that we are paying, if they are not being applied well that is the situation that we will find ourselves in because we know that going to IMF comes with so many implications,” he told Moro Awudu.

He further criticised the Majority MPs who initially called for the sacking of the Finance Minister but quickly took a U-Turn.

” After openly condemning this Finance Minister at a press conference in Parliament and calling on the President to remove him from office for gross incompetence, why have they abondoned that position? Je asked.

The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) registered its disappointment at the passage of the three revenue bills.

The association said the approval came on the heels of an already harsh business climate. The passage of these bills poses very dire consequences for Industry, it said.

“We continue to experience a tax regime that does not motivate local production and formal business operations.

“We denounce the lack of stakeholder consultation on such fiscal policies, which have negative impact on businesses. AGI took steps to make input to the bills and it’s
obvious that our submissions did not receive the consideration we expected,” a statement issued by the AGI said.