A tax expert Nyamekye Adjei has advised Ghanaians to play an active role in the quest to widen the tax net by insisting that local artisans such as masons and carpenters show their tax certificates before engaging them.
According to him, such a measure will mount pressure on artisans in the country to pay taxes to the state.
“Contractors and masons should produce documents to show they’ve paid their taxes before their services are employed. As a good citizen, you should employ the services of people who pay taxes,” he told Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Monday.
He also advised government against increasing taxes since that will have grave consequences on the citizenry.
“I will not propose tax increment because once VAT is increased; the Labour Union will come in with demands for income increment. When demands of Labour is not working, purchasing power will reduce and the objective of the government will not be met”.
The inability of governments to capture majority of Ghanaians on the tax bill has been the bane of the country with numerous applied measures yet to achieve results.
Some Ghanaians have already expressed anger over speculations that the government intends increasing taxes in the mid-year review budget scheduled for Parliament on Thursday July 19, 2018.
The government is considering introducing taxes such as;
1. An increase in Communications Service Tax from 6% to 12%?
2. A mandated minimum corporate tax
3. An expanded stabilisation tax?
4. Collaterising royalties from minerals to enable government raise loans
5. Increased social security (SSNIT) contributions to the NHIS?
6. A Financial Service Tax
The government is also likely to increase the Value Added TaX (VAT) from 17.5% to 21% in the mid-year budget set to be presented to Parliament.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
