Following a breakfast meeting organised by the minority in Parliament at the Justice D.F. Annan hall in Parliament, the minority spokesperson on finance and Member of Parliament for Ajumako/Enyan/Essiam, Cassiel Ato Forson has projected that the 2018 mid-year fiscal review to be presented on Thursday by the Finance Minister will burden Ghanaians with outrageous taxes.
Mr. Ato Forson stated that a close source from the government has revealed to the minority that the Finance Minister will slap Ghanaians with a hefty 2.5 percentage increase on Value Added Tax (VAT) from 17.5 percent to 20 percent.
Addressing stakeholders and other Civil Society Organisations at the meeting, Mr. Ato Forson disclosed that the Free SHS policy justification is untenable without tax increases and the 2.5 percent VAT proceeds that accrues to the Ghana Infrastructure and Investment Fund (GIIF) has already been committed to finance that programme, as part of the 2017 and 2018 budget.
The minority finance spokesperson further revealed that the government is putting in place measures to introduce a minimum corporate income tax of 2.5 percent on turnover for all companies irrespective of the revenue status of such companies.
Mr Ato Forson further alleged that the government will impose an excise tax of 10 percent on vehicles with engine capacity of 3.5cc and above.
In explaining further, Mr Ato Forson added that the government will increase Communications Service Tax from the current 6 percent and the imposition of a Levy on mobile money transactions.
In his concluding statement, he pointed out that the government again will increase the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contributions to the National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL).
“Government will soon burden workers and employers with a 1.5 percent and 1 percent tax respectively. This increment would have been entirely unnecessary had government not taken the unwise decision to cap funds accruing to the NHIL. It appears that government is seeking to punish the poor tax payer after its own flawed policies have led to a cash crunch for the scheme”, he ended.
Source: GhanaJustice/S.Ayisi
