Dr. Godfred Bokpin
According to economist, Dr. Godfred Bokpin government’s decision to impose new taxes on Ghanaians could be credited to conditions in the economic bailout with the international Monetary Fund.
He said the economic bailout has limited external borrowing avenues of the government hence the need to present revenue generation systems such as taxes.
Anthony Akoto Osei, a Member of Parliament’s finance committee, has also criticized the development citing government’s failure to seek Parliamentary approval for the deal.
Dr. Bokpin stated that, what government has done can be traced to the requirements of the IMF because government cannot finance its deficit through the Bank of Ghana. There will be the need for government to generate more revenues through taxes.
He also challenged the approach used by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in imposing taxes describing it as unfavorable to the overburdened formal sector.
He observed that it is the approach that we are adopting to close the funding gap that is the issue. Tax exemption and the huge informal sector that is not taxed, then we cannot justify the huge withholding taxes that are imposed on the formal sector. It looks like we are just focusing on the formal sector that is already burdened with so many tax issues.
The International Monetary Fund after its 2nd review of country’s economic performance under the program on Wednesday announced it is largely satisfied with the bailout program with Ghana but said the economic outlook remains difficult with risks tilted to the downside.
