Broaden tax net – Dr Manteaw
Dr Steve Manteaw, the Chairperson of Public Interest and Accountability Committee has called on the government to stop deepening the tax woes of few Ghanaians.
Instead, they should broaden the tax net to incorporate more individuals, businesses and especially the informal sector in reaping more for development.
Dr Manteaw, a member of the ‘Tax Justice Coalition Ghana’ said this during a two-day workshop at Dodowa for Coalition members on the need to build their advocacy skills in the area of taxation to enable members better to advocate an equal, fair and transparent tax regime.
He stated that the government must therefore put in place strategies and policies that would enable many more people to pay their taxes to mitigate the burden of just a fragment of society who continue to pay but don’t actually benefit.
The member also discussed progressive, regressive and proportional tax paying models to ensure maximum tax returns that brought happiness and relief to both the rich and the poor.
The Tax Justice Coalition, is a nonpartisan, independent and voluntary association of individuals and civil society organizations to advocate against tax injustice systems in Ghana and abroad.
The Coalition exist to also promote transparency, integrity and accountability at both local and national levels to compliment regional and continental efforts to deliver tax justice.
Dr Manteaw said it was imperative that those who benefited from taxes paid more especially those in the informal sector adding,” the government can use the free senior high school as a test case to ascertain the real tax payers or an avenue to roll in more tax payers”.
“Such a social protection strategy, policies and intervention are critical to getting people to pay taxes to mitigate the suffering of those burdened with taxes” , he added.
Mr Vitus Azeem, Chairman of the Coalition said mobilising for domestic revenue for national development must be carried out in a way that would avoid overburdening the poor and thereby create significant unfairness in the system.
“We need not to unduly penalise those already paying with more taxes”, he added.
Mr Azeem said the government and allied institutions must therefore effectively carry out their fiduciary role in the management of tax revenues in a just, coherent and honest manner.
The Coalition members were taken through courses such as; the Basic Principle and definition of taxation, Tax Equity, Tax Policy and Governance and challenges to the tax system.
The rest are advocacy and objectives and developing campaign messages.
Source: GNA