GUTA To Hold Stakeholder Engagement; To Petition Parliament, Gov’t Over Newly Approved Taxes

The government inured five new taxes as part of its efforts to build up revenue avenues as a necessity to secure the $3 billion IMF bailout after reaching a Staff-level agreement. These new taxes have been approved by Parliament which the government expects to rake in GHC3.96 billion.

The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) which had earlier shown strong opposition to the move prior to the approval is set to hold a stakeholder engagement next week.

Speaking on Opemsuo Dawuro 6 PM news, the Deputy PRO for GUTA, Mr. Albert Mensah Offei said, traders are not pleased with the institution and subsequent approval of the new taxes and seeks to engage with all stakeholders to conclude on the next line of action.

After the meeting, GUTA shall petition Parliament and the government over the new taxes as they have become threat to economic activities.

Mr. Offei emphasized that despite the fact that “we are all helping in the economic recovery process, but the government is over increasing taxes which will negatively impacts trading activities especially when it has decided to always push tax payment responsibilities upon traders”.

However, Economist and Lecturer at the Sunyani Technical University, Mr. Osei Kwaku Tuah has said that the approval of the new taxes will help in the government’s budget execution, that is, will help fund government’s programs and projects within the 2023 budget.

According to him, the new move will also help the government of Ghana to secure the IMF deal in reviving the economy.

Speaking on Opemsuo Dawuro 6 PM news, the Economist insisted that Ghana’s tax net is limited to fund the government’s programs and projects which often result in borrowing. As the government wills to get a bailout from the IMF will require it to initiate domestic revenue mobilization mechanisms of this caliber.

Source: opemsuo.com/Effah Mensah William