SHS free: Increase taxes for parents who want to pay – the government is invited

General News on Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2018-11-27

The government has been asked to target more taxes for parents opposed to free secondary school education.

John Mensah, who described himself as a pastor, argued that if parents so desperately wanted to pay for their children's high school education, they should instead offer to pay more taxes.

He was speaking during the elaborate evaluation of the Akufo-Addo government by Joy News after nearly two years in office.

During the 10-hour Scorecard program, John Mensah expressed his unwavering support for the education policy for free secondary education that was deployed in September 2017.

In less than nine months after the start of the Akufo-Addo government, this policy was implemented, resulting in a record number of enrollments in Ghana's 578 public high schools.

The policy was expensive. Some 1.7 billion cedis, more than $ 500 million, have been absorbed by the financial responsibilities badumed by parents.

But criticisms of the policy and its implementation have increased.

At a breakfast organized by Graphic Business and Stanbic Bank on November 13, 2018, a representative group of participants suggested paying for their neighborhood's education costs, as long as quality education is ensured.

Evans Mensah, presenter of Joy News, led the discussion by asking "who is willing to pay for your child, even if there is a policy to make it free?"

The majority of hands have risen at the Labadi Beach hotel where the topic "fund a free quality education in Ghana – Sustainable Financing Options".

But in the same Labadi Beach hotel in Accra, the subject of free education has been revisited.

One participant, John Mensah, said he had trouble understanding Ghanaian parents who claimed they could afford to pay school fees, but objected to paying more taxes to fund government programs.

He claimed that secondary education is free in most European countries because it is understood that "education is life".

He said he was one of nine students out of 48 from the Winneba Anglican School who were able to continue their education after pbading the joint entry in the 1970s.

He suggested that his other colleagues could have continued if education was free and indicated that the government should do everything possible to keep the SHS free.

John Mensah said that "for parents who say they have money to pay … raise taxes for those parents and it will be good for us."
dashboard of income tax

According to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), only about 1.2 million of them are registered for tax purposes. According to these 2017 data, 200,000 registered taxpayers belong to the informal sector.

People with more purchasing power are deemed to be in the middle income bracket. The middle clbad would be one who earns a daily income of at least $ 8.44 (over 40 cedis), or more than one million people.

There are about one million people in this category, although other resources provide more.

An African Development Bank study conducted in 2011 ranked close to one in five Ghanaians in the middle clbad – middle clbad or upper clbad.

These 4.6 million Ghanaians have a per capita daily consumption of between $ 4 and $ 20.

According to the study, the rich in Ghana are those who spend more than 20 dollars (100 Cedis) a day.