Trend of tax policy U-turns an issue of concern – Tax Analyst

Ghanaians, lawmakers oppose E-Levy

Government must thoroughly engage stakeholders before announcing new taxes, Timore Boi

Government makes U-turns on a number of tax policies

Francis Timore Boi a tax analyst has lamented at government’s trend of inconsistencies with regard to the announcement of tax policies and their implementation.

He believes that the persistent introduction of tax measures that are later withdrawn or fail to make headway is of concern and not prudent on the part of the government.

In an interaction with Citi Business News, Francis Boi called on government to rather hold wide-ranging and inclusive consultations with stakeholders before tax policies are announced and implemented.

“The problem I have is the policy inconsistencies. For example, we have the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement and the Headquarters being in Ghana. Our aim is to produce and export under the program,” he is quoted by Citi Business News.

“If we thought that the Benchmark Discount Policy was not going to help us, then we shouldn’t have implemented it in the first place. Now we go back and say we should do more engagement; does it mean we didn’t do enough engagement? On this E-Levy, we are calling for more engagement. So, there are so many surprises in the tax policies, which is not good for the government,” Francis Timore Boi added.

Over the last five years till present, government has announced a number of tax policy measures that have raised eyebrows.

Some of these include the benchmark discount policy, electronic transactions levy, mandatory towing levy, luxury vehicle tax and among others.

While some these tax policies have however been kicked against by either lawmakers or the Ghanaian public, stakeholders are calling for more consultations before such tax measures are introduced.

The latest debacle is that from the Electronic Transactions Levy which seeks to impose a 1.75 percent tax on all electronic and digital transactions covering mobile money payments, bank transfers, inward remittances among others.