George Ricketts-Hagan, Member of Parliament (MP) for Cape Coast South, says the Minority caucus in Parliament would investigate the purported GH11 billion taxes buried in the government’s 2024 budget.
The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, revealed eight tax reliefs the government aims to enact beginning next year when presenting the government’s 2024 budget in Parliament on Wednesday.
These include extending the zero rate of VAT on locally manufactured African prints for two (2) more years, waiving import duties on electric vehicles imported for public transportation for an eight-year period, waiving import duties on semi-knocked down and completely knocked down electric vehicles imported by registered EV assembly companies in Ghana for an eight-year period, and extending the zero rate of VAT on locally assembled vehicles for two (2) more years.
Others included zero-rate VAT on locally produced sanitary pads, duty waivers for raw materials used in the local manufacture of sanitary pads, exemptions from the importation of agricultural machinery equipment and inputs, medical consumables, raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry, and a VAT flat rate of 5% to replace the standard VAT rate of 15% on all commercial properties, which will be implemented to simplify administration.
Mr. Ricketts-Hagan, on the other hand, stated on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, “We know that there’s GH¢11 billion in taxes [in the budget], but it is hidden, so we will unravel it… In a couple of days, we will unwrap it and show where they have been hidden.”
“…They have been disguised, and that was the whole idea… So we have to open it up.”
However, the Deputy Trades Minister, Dr. Stephen Amoah, refuted such claims and urged the Cape Coast South MP and the Minority to focus on things such as the tax reliefs intended by the government to be implemented “rather than look for [non-existent] areas to criticize.”
