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Members of the Dunkwa Tailors and Dressmakers Association (DTDA) have accused the Upper Denkyira East Municipal Assembly in the Central Region for allegedly slamming members of the association and other small scale businesses in the area with high taxes and fees. According to them, the alleged move by the assembly was gradually collapsing their businesses since most of the members could not pay the high fees being charged by the assembly. They have, therefore, appealed to the municipal assembly to always involve them and other private business associations operating in the area, in the assembly�s fee-fixing programmes and other decision making processes that affected the private sector. At a day�s workshop to deliberate on the adverse effects the alleged high levies was having on small and medium scale businesses in the municipality, members of the DTDA wondered how the high fees being charged them, were determined. The workshop was among other things aimed at discussing the impact of the high fees and levies on small and medium scale enterprises in the municipality. Isaac Opoku, chairman of the DTDA indicated that the association, established in 1999, had about 110 members and was formed to promote businesses of members through the facilitation of capacity building, access to information and credits among others. He, therefore, appealed to the municipal assembly to involve the members in the fixing of taxes and other levies to help ensure the growth and profitability of micro and small scale businesses. Nana Ansu Adame Kofrobuor, Head of Enterprise Management Development Consultant and Business Service Provider, the convener of the workshop, bemoaned the fact that there was no effective dialogue between the municipal assembly and the private sector in the formulation of policies that affected the sector. �As a result of multiple and high taxes by the assembly, small businesses, particularly tailors and dressmakers, are closing down their shops�, he stressed. He pointed out that undoubtedly, small scale businesses operating in the municipality were contributing immensely to the assembly�s internally generated revenue and stressed that there was the need for the assembly to involve them in taking decisions that affected them. Reacting to the concerns raised, the Upper Denkyira East Municipal Chief Executive, Peter Kofi Owusu Ashia chastised operators of small scale enterprises in the area for refusing to attend assembly meetings when they were invited. He, therefore, encouraged owners of all sorts of businesses operating in the area not to hesitate to visit the assembly for answers to all their questions and other concerns.