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Beauty Emefa Narteh, Executive Secretary of GACC
The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) with the support of Oxfam Ghana has established regional dialogue sessions to promote progressive corporate taxation and tax compliance towards effective and efficient mobilization of revenues for national development .
The initiative aims to engage private sector actors, civil society organizations and public sector revenue collection agencies in the 16 regions on the challenges that hamper the smooth collection and payment of taxes.
Speaking to the Ghanaian News Agency on the sidelines of the first regional dialogue session in Koforidua, GACC Executive Secretary Ms. Beauty Emefa Narteh said the session aimed to deepen understanding of the challenges of paying taxes and give tax administrators the opportunity to respond appropriately to problems.
She added that the discussion was aimed at adequately informing taxpayers or citizens about new things introduced by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to facilitate the payment of taxes.
She said the regional dialogue would culminate with a national forum on the experiences and contributions of taxpayers and collectors where it was expected that the GRA Commissioner General would be present.
The experiences shared by the participants showed that awareness raising was a public concern, as some of the initiatives that the GRA championed, most taxpayers were not so aware of.
The revelation, noted Ms Narteh, “It meant that GRA had to do more to engage its clients or taxpayers, there should be more education and more relationships so that it didn’t seem like people were being forced to pay. taxes.”
Participants also expressed frustration with the numerous taxes weighing on taxpayers, the selective application of sanctions against violators, corruption among GRA officials, the limited reach of the tax net, and tax exemptions and holidays. .
Mr. Wisdom Adongo, Senior Project Officer, Private Enterprise Foundation, referring to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said tax exemptions and holidays cost Ghana $ 1 billion every year.
He said fiscal compliance had become difficult in the country due to lack of transparency, too many taxes and fees that the private sector was required to pay, stressing: “These are layers of costs facing the private sector “.
He proposed that the government adopt a unified corporate tax system to ensure greater transparency, reduce tax evasion and combat abuses in the revenue collection chain.
Mr. Joseph Asare, GRA Zone Director for the Eastern, Volta and Oti Regions, congratulated the organizers on the engagement, saying it would help shape GRA’s work for better performance in revenue mobilization and engagement with taxpayers.
He noted that collecting taxes was a difficult task as the people asking for more allowances and developments were the same people who refused to pay taxes, adding: “No income, no tax”.
He said the GRA is trying to clean up the system and make it more flexible so that the public understands the requirements of taxation and ensures an efficient tax system.
He added that a number of interventions have been deployed to ensure voluntary compliance and improve revenue collection, saying that since June this year, mobile money has been the mode of tax collection and taxpayers are become aware of their responsibility.
He said the taxpayer portal has been unveiled, allowing taxpayers to file online and even request their tax clearance certificates and credit certificates online.
“These are all tax compliance measures instituted,” he added: Efforts have also been made to improve VAT invoices and have encouraged the public to always demand VAT invoices after transactions.
He said an app was also being developed to help identify rental property to make paying property tax easier.
Mr. Geoffrey Kabutey Ocansey, Executive Director of Revenue Mobilization Africa, acknowledged GRA’s efforts to facilitate the payment and collection of taxes, but noted that there were challenges where heavily taxed people had to travel.
He therefore called for improved security and communication so that corporate figures understand the use of GRA systems, and that payments would not only come with technological challenges.
But, “This is another wonderful area for corrupt individuals to start functioning, so it is necessary to have some security.”
Mr Ocansey called for a review of the legal regime governing corporate taxation, saying, for example, that a company gets a tax break for nine years and its ownership changes, new owners benefit from the next round for nine years.
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