The minority’s reservations about the list of corporations asking tax exemptions, according to Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, are justified.
He stated that Parliament had yet to consider the request.
The minority in Parliament had stated that they will oppose the government’s proposal to grant tax exemptions to 45 companies brought before Parliament as One-District-One-Factory enterprises and Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) strategic investors.
In a statement issued on Monday, November 27, Minority Leader Dr Cassiel Ato Forson claimed that in order to “satisfy their insatiable greed,” the Akufo-Addo government and its cronies have turned their focus to tax revenues.
The sheer number of enterprises being presented to Parliament as applicants for tax exemption under the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration is alarming, he added.
Currently, he stated, “there are about 45 companies that have been presented to Parliament as one- district-one-factory companies, GIPC strategic investors, etc, to be exempted from the payment of taxes. In total, Government is asking Parliament to grant tax exemptions to the tune of USD449,446,247.95 for these 45 companies. That is the equivalent of over five and a half (5.5) billion Ghana cedis!
“Because this is an issue that impacts our economy significantly, we have compiled a full list of all the 45 companies and their respective exemptions being requested. As a Minority in Parliament, we have a duty to let the Ghanaian taxpayer who is being burdened with all manner of taxes, know this truth.
“We are further told that there are a total of 118 companies being processed at the Ministry of Trade & Industry, Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre to be brought to Parliament for tax exemptions. The total value of exemptions for these 118 companies is about seven billion Ghana cedis! It is the considered view of the Minority that these requests for tax exemptions running into several billions of Cedis, are unconscionable, inordinate and bear all the trappings of organised crime.
“Ghanaians would recall the strange events on the floor of Parliament sometime this year, specifically on 28th July, 2023. On that occasion, the Minister of Trade and Industry, K.T Hammond, backed by the Chairman of the Trade Committee of Parliament, Carlos Ahenkorah, ganged up against one of their own and Chairman of Parliament’s Finance Committee, Kweku Kwarteng, accusing him of frustrating certain tax waivers. Their concern was that Parliament was conducting the necessary due diligence into these requests to ensure that the Ghanaian people are not shortchanged. Why the indecent haste, if we may ask?
“We in the Minority are serving notice that we shall resist these tax waiver applications fiercely! In their current forms, we shall resist each and every one of the tax waiver applications with all the tools and strategies at our disposal.”
When asked whether the government will address issues highlighted by the Minority and other stakeholders in the 2024 budget statement despite its acceptance, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah, also a Member of Parliament for Ofoase Ayirebi, remarked on the Ghana Tonight broadcast on TV3 on Thursday, December 7.He said, “The government has already pushed the Exemptions Bill because we are clear not all tax exemptions are justified but like every other jurisdiction we are also clear that some exceptions are justified.
“Fancy a scenario where we need to build an interchange in Takoradi, the PTC Interchange, a few hundreds of million of dollars which we don’t have and therefore we are borrowing from creditors to construct that PTC Interchange which would help our brothers and sisters in the Western Corridors a lot.
“The question is, should you impose a tax on that list of items in the credit facility? Because if you do that Four Hundred Million Dollar project may end up Four Hundred and Sixty Million Dollars because of the taxes and you will have to come and ask the Ghanaian taxpayer to pay Four Hundred and Sixty Million Dollars instead of Four Hundred Million Dollars, that is the decision you have to make.
That is why you have to determine whether every request for tax exemption is worth it or not. It is not a blanket rule that all tax exemptions are bad or all tax exemptions are good. I think it is legitimate that our colleagues raised questions that we want to examine the request for exemptions that are yet to be considered by the committee.”
