A Lawyer and Member of Parliament for Ejisu Constituency in the Ashanti Region, John Ampontuah Kumah has said that the introduction and imposition of some taxes on Ghanaians is as a result of government’s motive not to continue borrowing hence the new tax imposition.
He said government is expected to spend about GHs 25 billion for emoluments and compensations for 2021 as well as interest repayment on Ghana’s public loans and these have necessitated the current situation of the country.
Speaking on ‘DayBreak Upper East’ programme on A1 Radio, John Kumah said “For the first time in the history of Ghana, we are paying GHs 35 billion a year which now exceeds our emoluments and compensations. GHs 10 billion more in one year. This is as a result of Ghana’s continuous borrowing.”
“When you add the GHs 25 billion and the GHs 35 billion, you are about GHs 60 billion. This means that the chunk of your revenue expectation for this year is GHs 72 billion, GHs60 billion is going for only two items [interest on repayments and emoluments and compensations]. It means that as a country, we are left with only GHs 12 billion to do every other thing, build our roads, infrastructure, free SHS etc, and as a government, you can’t continue to borrow every time to fill the gaps.” He added
It could be recalled that President Akufo-Addo in April 2020, announced a free utility package [electricity and water] for the vulnerable in the country to lessen the virus’ negative impact following a lockdown in some parts of Ghana.
As a result of covid19 and its related issues including the relief package on the utilities, government has so far spent GHs 19 billion, this Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said Ghanaians will have to pay for the free provision of water and electricity hence the introduction and imposition of new taxes.
However, John Kumah said, new taxes introduced go beyond ‘Covid-19 free utilities’.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHZ| James Nana Tsiquaye|Ghana
