GPRTU has called for a reduction in taxes on fuel
The Private Commercial Road Transport Operators and the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) have signed a joint statement demanding a reduction in taxes and levies on fuel and petroleum products.
The two transport unions warned they would be moved to increase transport fares by 20% should the government fail in meeting their demands.
“Our disappointment stems from the failure of the government to commit to its assurance to operators that it will continue with efforts to prevent a steep rise in input cost.
It was based on this assurance that members of the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council agreed to increase transport fares by 13% on 2nd June 2021,” the statement said.
It added: “The recent hikes in petroleum products especially petrol and diesel have led to increment of 42 pesewas from May 2021 to October 2021.
This is because a litre of either petrol or diesel sold at GH¢6.08 in May 2021 is currently being sold at GH¢6.50 by the major oil marketing companies.”
Read the full statement below:
JOINT RELEASE…12 /10 /2021
PRIVATE COMMERCIAL ROAD TRANSPORT OPERATORS AND G.P.R.T.U.
REDUCE TAXES AND LEVIES ON FUEL AND PETROLEUM PRODUCTS OR RISK 20% INCREASE ON TRANSPORT FARES.
The Private Road Transport Commercial Operators Unions together with the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) wish to express our genuine disappointment in government for not putting in place any stabilization measure to curtail the hikes in fuel and petroleum products in the country.
This half-hearted attitude of government does not promote the welfare and income of persons in the commercial transport business even though commercial transport operators are the major consumers of petroleum and for that matter contributes mostly to the clearance of legacy debts in the energy sector through the Energy Sector Levy Act 2015 (Act 899) to Energy Sector Levy Act 2021 (Act 1064).
Our disappointment stems from the failure of the government to commit to its assurance to operators that it will continue with efforts to prevent a steep rise in input cost.
It was based on this assurance that members of the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council agreed to increase transport fares by 13% on 2nd June 2021.
The recent hikes in petroleum products especially petrol and diesel have led to increment of 42 pesewas from May 2021 to October 2021.
This is because a litre of either petrol or diesel sold at GH¢6.08 in May 2021 is currently being sold at GH¢6.50 by the major oil marketing companies.
This means that the price of a gallon of either petrol or diesel has increased from GH¢27.36 in May to GH¢29.25 in October 2021, indicating an increment of GH¢1.89 per gallon which add more cost to our operations without any cost recovery interventions by the state or government of Ghana.
It must be noted by government that a commercial taxi driver who uses five gallons of petrol a day spends additional GH¢9.45, which is almost GH¢10.00 and the trotro driver who uses an average of 10 gallons of diesel a day spends additional GH¢18.9, which is almost GH¢20 daily since the increment.
These increments have reduced our real income because we need to add more of our income to buy the same litres of products we bought in May this year.
Aside the effect of the increment in petroleum prices on our daily sales, there have also been about 10% surge in the prices of spare parts we buy to maintain our vehicles.
However, the government has been silent on these increments while the commercial transport operator continues to suffer because of government’s negligence and silence.
We, therefore, urge government to review the taxes on petroleum products especially diesel and petrol since the taxes, levies or margin that go to government and its agencies make up GH¢2.43 on each litre of fuel bought.
This also implies that the commercial transport operator pays about GH¢11 to government when a gallon of diesel or petrol is bought and an average of GH¢55 per five gallons daily.
The trotro driver also pays GH¢110 for 10 gallons of diesel to government and its agencies daily. These taxes and margins or levies on the daily basis are higher than our daily returns making us poorer compared to other businesses in the country.
In this regard, we urge government to as a matter of urgency scrap the following taxes in the petroleum price build; Special Petroleum Tax (46pessewas/Litre), Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy (16 pessewas/litre), BOST Margin (9 pesewas/litre), and Sanitation and Pollution Levy (10 pesewas/litre).
We also believe that the Energy Debt Recovery Levy and the Energy Sector Recovery Levy should be merged and reduced to 30 pessewas per Litre.
We believe that the removal of these taxes will reduce the prices of diesel and petrol by GH¢1.20/Litre each.
If government does not remove or review the taxes downwards, then we will have no alternative than to increase our fares by 20% to recover the cost of our operations and debt we have incurred during these price increments.
Signed
National Communication officer GPRTU
Abass Morro
0275595027
PRO National Concern Drivers Association
David Agboado
0541063682
Chairman Ghana Committed Drivers Union
Charlse Danso
0244233929
Samuel Amoah National communication team member GPRTU
0243062953
PRO True Drivers Union
Yaw Barima
0500312104
Paa Willie
0242971025