GRA serves notice to prosecute defaulters of property rate payment

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has urged all property owners in Ghana to pay their bills.

The GRA said persons who fail to comply with the directive would be prosecuted.

The court may order the sale of the property to defray the debt, the GRA indicated.

In a tweet, the Authority said “All property rate payers are to settle their bills within 42 days of the bill date. Defaulters will be prosecuted in accordance with the Local Governance Act 936, Section 154 1, the court may authorize the sale of your property to recover the outstanding amount owed. Pay promptly to prevent any inconvenience.”

This comes at a time the Executive Member of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) Tsonam Akpeloo asked the GRA to follow the example of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) which was going round to collect its debts, to also do the same and collect property tax.

Tsonam Akpeloo indicated that property tax is one of the areas where the government can generate revenue, not only through taxing businesses.

Speaking on the Ghana Tonight show on TV3 Wednesday, April 5 in connection with the three revenue bills – Excise Duty, Growth and Sustainability Levy and Income Amendment Bills – that have been approved by Parliament, he said “Our view is that government must look at its own expenditure and reduce its expenditure to reflect the realities of the time.

“Times are hard and you cannot afford to have a bloated expenditure this time. We feel very strongly that government should consider reviewing its own expenditure.”

He added “There are many ways of mobilizing revenue, for example, property tax. We keep talking about the same issue on property tax, I know people who really have to go to the Municipal offices to ask for their property tax because nobody is coming to them.

“ECG has just started calling people to pay for their electricity bills, we propose that GRA should also go round to collect property tax so they can mobilise revenue.”