Don’t approve new fuel taxes – COPEC urges MPs



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The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) has asked MPs to remove the new levies on petroleum products.

According to the executive secretary of COPEC, Duncan Amoah, there are loopholes in the generation of state revenue that the finance ministry must find solutions to rather than introduce new levies.

“I think that if the finance ministry devotes its energies to closing the revenue gaps, we can go a long way. So we asked the people’s representatives in Parliament not to let us down this time. Out of good conscience they should reject this proposal as there is clearly a lot of revenue the state allows not to be counted and then we come back to squeeze the same people who are already crying to pay too much for fuel.

Make such a call on Eyewitness NewsMr. Amoah further stated that “about GHS 1.9 billion of government revenue was going into private pockets. The total amount of taxes that we are simply seeking to impose more on oil would bring in GHS 1.2 billion per year. The government has already allowed GHS 1.9 billion to go into the pockets of the high and the powerful, the revenue the government should be able to claw back has been wasted, then you come to the trotro driver to say, pay more taxes and let us recover GHS 1.2 billion. ”

“The cumulative increases we have paid since January to date are already 17%, from 4.67 GHS pesewas to the current 5.45 GHS pesewas. If you add another 5-8%, you make 23% in a quarter. This is clearly unsustainable and we believe someone needs to be up to the task of managing fuel prices for Ghanaians by making sure the refinery is running, making sure BOST is playing the role that we have used it for. taxpayer money to build it.

The government, through the 2021 budget, is proposing a new tax on petroleum products, among other things.

This new tax, the tax on sanitation and pollution, aims to finance efforts to finance investments in the fields of sanitation and pollution.

The levy is 10 peswas on the price of a liter of gasoline / diesel under the Energy Sector Levies Act (ESLA).

There is also a 30 pesewa increase in fuel prices to cover the cost of excess electric capacity.

If the proposal is accepted, Ghanaians will see further increases in oil prices at the pump.

—Citinewsroom

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