‘Payment of taxes a necessary sacrifice to address our challenges’ – Akufo-Addo
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has asked the citizenry to rise up to the challenge and help his government develop the country.
President Akufo-Addo says more sacrifices are needed to get the country to where it ought to be.
The President made these comments when he addressed the Summit of the Africa Finance Cooperation in Abuja, Nigeria on Thursday, May 12.
He thus stressed that the country can be developed by only Ghanaians.
He described the “paying of taxes” as a sacrifice necessary to confront Ghana’s challenges.
“All of these are the sacrifices that are required for us to make it, and we have to be prepared to do so. So let us understand that we have to rise to the challenge and do it for ourselves,” President Akufo-Addo urged.
Already, President Akufo-Addo has maintained that he will not remove the taxes, insisting it will cost the government ¢4 billion a year.
He said this during the 2022 May Day celebration on Sunday, May 1.
He said the government is currently confronted by very tight financing conditions, in the wake of inadequate domestic revenue mobilisation.
“Indeed, some of the revenues from these same taxes on petroleum products is what is used to pay some of the salaries of some of the 700,000 public sector workers on Government’s payroll.”.
“We, therefore, continue to be vulnerable to the price volatilities of the world market for petroleum products,” Mr Akufo-Addo explained.
The government on May 1 commenced the implementation of the Electronic transfer Levy (e-levy) in a bid to raise some more revenue.
The implementation of the levy was initially greeted with displeasure from the public domain with panic withdrawals hitting various mobile money vending stations due to the fact that a lot of people were withdrawing from the service.
However, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), in collaboration with the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications and other stakeholders, has heightened sensitisation on the e-levy to assuage the public’s fears and restore their confidence in the usage of the electronic wallets.
Source: Myjoyonline.com
