According to the General Secretary of TAGG, Nana Poku, Ghanaians have been misled by the GRA into believing that traders do not follow tax regulations and engage in smuggling, under declaration, misdescription, and concealment.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Monday, October 2, 2023, Mr Poku stressed that the trading community would not cooperate with the revenue generation company if its task forces continue to extort traders.
He asserted that, "Thieving and extortion traders would never cooperate with GRA task forces if they could continue operating with such impunity. Between 2000 and 2008, Ghana served as a trading hub for a number of bordering countries, including Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast. As a result of so-called GRA Taskforces using our highways for harassment and extortion, these countries are steadily lowering their flow of doing business in Ghana."
"All we are asking is that, if GRA chooses to rely on these Monitoring Teams as they claim, they should do so without victimising innocent importers and traders who would be subjected to extortion, intimidation, and harassment at the end of GRA's legitimate mandate," the TAGG General Secretary said.
Mr Poku further said, "Unfortunately, GRA misled the public into believing that traders do not follow tax regulations and engage in smuggling, under declaration, misdescription, and concealment. We are quite unhappy with the GRA leadership's attempt to misinform the public against the trading community. At this juncture, we would want to appeal to all Ghanaians to join us in our efforts to alleviate the suffering of Ghanaian traders in the hands of GRA.
This comes on the back of GRA’s statement which dismissed claims that it is deliberately harassing members of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) and TAGG over tax collections.
GRA said the operation to collect all taxes formed part of measures to ensure that government rakes in tax revenues to undertake developmental projects.
The statement also said it has raked in about ¢105,000 within two months through upfront payments, with a corresponding increase in VAT registration.
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General Secretary of TAGG, Nana Poku