At joint press conference by the business community in Ghana has address their desatifaction overburden taxes by the government and deliberately collapsing business in Ghana.
In a news conference held in Accra, the president of Guta Dr Joseph Obeng stated that the deliberate attempt by government to collapse businesses in Ghana is a bit worrying because taxes are affecting their business big time.
Below is full statement
PRESS CONFERENCE ISSUED BY THE GHANA JOINT BUSINESS CONSULTATIVE FORUM ON TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2023 IN THE CONFERENCE ROOM OF THE GHANA NATIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY NEAR FIESTA ROYAL HOTEL, DZORWULU, ACCRA.
Fellow Executives and Members of the Business Community, Members of the Press, Ladies and Gentlemen.
We have converged here this morning, to register our total disapproval of the passage of these taxes (the Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2022, the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill 2022, the Ghana Revenue Authority Bill 2022, and the Income Tax Amendment Bill 2022) by the Parliament of Ghana based on the following reasons:
That there has not been any effort on the part of the Government to engage the Business Community and seek their input.
These businesses are already overburdened with numerous taxes. Therefore, the implementation of these new taxes will lead to the collapse of businesses in the Country.
That again, the taxes will have rippling and cascading effects on businesses and the consuming public as well.
The Government could have adopted a different strategy for enhancing revenue generation in the Country as a better alternative to the IMF programme rather than these obnoxious taxes.
We do not believe the IMF seeks the destruction of businesses in the Country.
That the Business Community is the worst affected by the global phenomena of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war and rather needs the sympathy and support of the Government, and this situation is well known to the IMF.
It should be noted that due to the high cost of doing business in the country, traffic at the Tema Port has drastically reduced, and any further cost will worsen the situation.
That the Business Community has protested vehemently and petitioned the Government and Parliament against the Bills, but Parliament failed to listen to the concerns and pleas of the people and rather listen to themselves; forgetting that they represent the interest of their constituents including the Ghanaian Business Community.
That our capital has deeply been eroded and continues to erode by the effects of the depreciation of the Cedi against the major trading currencies, especially, the dollar, during the last quarter of 2022.
That businesses are so saddled with numerous taxes in various forms, and now, very unbearable.
That over-taxation impedes the growth of business and productivity.
We have become very uncompetitive in cross-border trade in the sub-regional bloc and becoming irrelevant in the scheme of affairs of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
That the inflation being experienced in the Country currently, is as a result of the accumulation of the cost of doing business, the majority of which is from the imposition of multiple taxes.
The cost of borrowing is extremely high and worsening our ability to establish and sustain our local industries.
That the Business Community has not performed badly in terms of tax payments because in the past couple of years, the Government has exceeded its revenue targets set for the tax collection agencies and
Finally, the Government has overlooked the fact that these taxes will force businesses to reduce staff and labourers, increase redundancy and discourage businesses from employing new staff.
As is always said, the Private Sector is the engine of growth of every economy. Therefore, its importance cannot be overemphasized. So, the Government should create an enabling environment that will ensure the growth and sustainability of the private sector rather than overtaxing businesses out of their effectiveness.
The Government should not sacrifice the survival and development of the private sector for the sake of the IMF programme.
The efforts of the IMF to support our national economy will amount to nothing if it ends up destroying local businesses.
The Government can enhance domestic revenue mobilization by adopting innovative and practicable measures.
We of the Business Community are very much in the known that the taxes we pay to the Government are sufficient enough, but what the Government fails to do, is to adopt an effective and pragmatic system to ensure compliance with tax payment, as well as rope in all other business entities that have not been captured into the tax net.
In fact, there are many leakages in the tax system, which lead to abuses and need to be sealed to forestall tax evasion and other related abuses. For example, the abuses of the warehousing and free zone policies should be thoroughly examined and strictly checked.
The tax exemption policy should be totally abolished. This will go a long way to save significant revenue for national development.
The Government should do everything within its means to prune down its expenditure and should also note that no amount of revenue generated will ever suffice the Government if government expenditure remains unnecessarily high without prudent management and strict control.
What we sought in our various petitions presented to parliament was for Parliament to hold on with the passage of these bills into law, to enable us to engage the Government, make our inputs, and build consensus on the way forward that will inure to the benefit of both the state and private sector.
Ladies and Gentlemen, in conclusion, in as much as we understand that the state of our economy demands measures to resuscitate it, we believe that wrong diagnosis and prescription would not yield the anticipated result. Therefore, a proper diagnosis is necessary for the right prescription to remedy the situation.
We agree that the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have adversely impacted world economies. However, we believe the Government does not appear to have rightly identified the points of impacts of these two events on businesses. And without proper diagnosis, the measures the Government takes to remedy the situation would be akin to running from one’s shadow or in circles.
However, we are still open to the Government for such engagements to build the necessary consensus in the country’s best interest.
Until then, we still register our disapproval of those new taxes, and, hereby, appeal to His Excellency the President, to reconsider our concerns and pleas and revisit the issue.
Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for your attention.
SIGNATORIES:
GHANA NATIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (GNCCI)
SIGNED:……………………………………………………………………………..
GHANA UNION OF TRADERS ASSOCIATION (GUTA)
SIGNED:………………………………………………………………………………
IMPORTERS AND EXPORTERS ASSOCIATION
SIGNED:……………………………………………………………………………..
FOOD AND BEVERAGES ASSOCIATION
SIGNED:………………………………………………………………………………
GHANA FEDERATION OF LABOURS.
SIGNED:…………………………………………………………………………………
GHANA INSTITUTE OF FREIGHT FORWARDERS (GIFF).
SIGNED:………………………………………………………………………………..
CUSTOMS BROKERS ASSOCIATION OF GHANA (CUBAG).
SIGNED:………………………………………………………………………………….
ASSOCIATION OF CUSTOMS HOUSE AGENCY (ACHAG).
SIGNED:…………………………………………………………………………………
ASHANTI BUSINESS OWNERS ASSOCIATION.
SIGNED:…………………………………………………………………………………
CHAMBER OF AUTOMOBILE DEALERS.
SIGNED:…………………………………………………………………………………
Kindly read all the Latest News, Entertainment News and gossips here. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Telegram.
Discover more from Ghananewsprime
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.