The Deputy Finance Minister-designate, Thomas Nyarko Ampem, has revealed that the ruling government will not introduce new taxes in the upcoming budget.
The Deputy Minister’s assurance comes after the minority in Parliament claimed that the government was planning to introduce new taxes.
The minority is alleging that the government is seeking to generate GH¢200 billion this year and is planning to introduce new taxes.
However, Nyarko Ampem refuted the assertions, not the Minority Caucus.
He said the focus of the government will be to improve tax compliance and expand the tax base, rather than introducing additional levies.
The Deputy Minister said the budget will also focus on strengthening domestic revenue mobilisation without burdening citizens with new taxes.
“The finance minister has said this many times—we do not need to introduce new taxes to rake in more revenue. We are going to broaden the tax base. We are actually going to enhance compliance. And you will hear a lot of this in the budget when it is presented. And you’ll see.”
“In fact, he hinted that as a country, we are not taking advantage of the economic rent that we are supposed to generate revenue from through the exploiting of industry… To be honest with you, because we have been denied access to the international bond market, we have to do two things—enhance revenue and also manage expenditure,” he added.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
