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Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta says there will be no increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) as widely speculated.
He made this known while presenting the mid-year budget review in Parliament, Thursday.
There were earlier reports that government intended to increase VAT from 17.5% to 21.5%.
The minority after hearing this, vowed to resist any VAT increment since Ghanaians are already facing hardship.
However, Mr Ofori-Atta swerved the minority saying "I’ll like to inform the house Mr Speaker that there will be no increase in VAT".
According to him, "last year we abolished numerous taxes. The scale of tax reductions had never been implemented in the 60 years of Ghana’s economic history since independence. The evidence shows that the economy has responded positively to these tax cuts. What is also clear to us Mr Speaker is that we are not collecting as much as we should".
To solve this problem, government instead of resorting to the imposition of many taxes, has brought out four measures:
- ensure compliance with existing tax laws,
- plug the leakages in the existing system,
- ensure value-for-money for the expenditures that government undertakes and
- ensure that the wealthy also pay their fair share.
Apart from this, to meet fiscal deficit target and to ensure that Ghana exits from the IMF programe: "we are converting the NHIS 2.5% to a straight levy of 2.5%; Converting GETFUND of 2.5% to the straight levy of 2.5%. VAT will thus be maintained at 12.5%. We are imposing a luxury vehicle tax. We are reviewing personal income tax of 10,000 cedis, intensifying compliance measures".
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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BETTER! DONT EVEN TRY OF ADDING ANY TAX TO WHAT WE ARE PAYING NOW BECAUSE GHANAIANS WILL NOT BE HAPPY WITH YOUR GOVERNMENT AT ALL. ALREADY THEY ARE NOT HAPPY AND YOU WANT TO ADD MORE TROUBLES
So NDC was expecting an imposition of heavy taxes so as to the NPP unpopular for them to seek their own selfish interest or the larger interest of all Ghanaians? By their fruits you shall know them of their DE.vilish deeds.SHAME, SHAME unto you; you nation wreckers
HAHAHAHA ... THE FINANCE MINISTER IS SMART. HE HAS PRACTICALLY INCREASED THE NHIL. EXAMPLE: IF THE PRODUCT IS 100 AND THE VALUE ADDED IS 25. ORIGINALLY YOU PAY 2.5% NHIL ON 25; NOW WE WILL PAY THE 2.5% NHIL ON 100. DID WE GO OR DID WE COME.
@Simpolo@Fish@BB. You got it all wrong. The Finance Minister has made an increase in the tax through the back door! Originally we pay the 2.5% NHIL on the value added; this time we pay the 2.5% NHIL on the main transaction. This means the consumer pays more!!!
It has just been postponed because of the huge cry and opposition against the increment! It will come on in 2019 budget!
LOOK AT SOME SWINE @ SIMPOLO
Thanks to the opposition NDC for blocking the NPP otherwise we would have suffered an increase in the VAT.