Greater Accra contributed 90% of domestic tast as of June 2021 - Ofori-Atta

The Finance Minister has decried the low number of Ghanaians paying tax.

He said there should be more Ghanaians paying taxes to help reduce the burden on the few who are currently paying their taxes.

The Minister said less than 10 percent of Ghana’s 30.8 million population pay direct taxes.

In his view, it was “a poor reflection” on the country when compared to other middle-income countries.

He said the figure was generated from the 2021 Population and Housing Census.

He noted that only 45,109 entities are registered as corporate taxpayers.

”Only 54,364 persons are registered as self-employed taxpayers at the Ghana Revenue Authority, and only 136,198 entities are registered businesses at the Registrar-General’s Department as of August 2021, of which 80 percent are self-employed, disclosed.

”Mr. Speaker, compared to our peers within the middle-income brackets, these statistics are a poor reflection on us and we need to change the narrative. We must resolve that by the next Census, we should have changed these statistics to become an Upper Middle-Income Country in line with our Ghana Beyond Aid agenda. We must eclipse a 20% threshold of revenue to GDP ratio by 2024.”

According to the figures the Finance Minister presented, the Greater Accra Region contributes almost 90 percent of Ghana’s domestic tax as of June 2021.

The Minister wants Ghana to eclipse a 20% threshold of revenue to GDP ratio by 2024.