The Majority Leader of Parliament Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu has responded to claims by the Minority that the system will not be able to bear the hardships presented by the 2022 Budget Statement.
The legislator representing the side of the Majority to submit their final argument on the 2022 budget statement, said the Minority cannot claim that the system is hard because the system was hard before the NPP took over from them.
He asserted that the country was extremely hard to the extent that the NDC imposed taxes on condoms and contraceptives.
The Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu had opined that the system was already “hot” and yet the government introduced new taxes.
He said they had no sympathy because if they had, they would not have imposed the 1.75% electronic levy on MoMo and bank transactions.
The government of Ghana has introduced an electronic transaction levy, E-Levy on Mobile Money transact, ions, and other electronic transactions.
The Minister said this was a strategy to widen the tax net and reduce the burden on the few Ghanaians paying their taxes.
The Minority believes the levy was insensitive and they would go to all lengths to reject it.
But the Majority Leader in his submission took the Minority to the cleaners accusing them of deceiving Ghanaians.
He said the NPP after taking office abolished several nuisance taxes including the
– 1 percent Special Import Levy;
– 17.5 percent VAT/NHIL on financial services;
– 17.5 percent VAT/NHIL on selected imported medicines, that are not produced locally;
– Initiate steps to remove import duties on raw materials and machinery for production within the context of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) Protocol;
– 17.5 percent VAT/NHIL on domestic airline tickets;
– 5 percent VAT/NHIL on Real Estate sales;
– Excise duty on petroleum;
– Special petroleum tax rate from 17.5 percent to 15 percent;
– Duty on the importation of spare parts;
– Levies imposed on kayayei by local authorities;
– Taxation, the gains from realisation of securities listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange or publicly held securities approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC);
He added that the government further took the following steps to ease the way of doing business in Ghana.
Reduce National Electrification Scheme Levy from 5 percent to 3 percent;
– Reduce Public Lighting Levy from 5 percent to 2 percent;
– Replace the 17.5 VAT/NHIL rate with a flat rate of 3 percent for traders; and
– Implement tax credits and other incentives for businesses that hire young graduates.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
