Alex Ampaabeng
CIVIL SOCIETY Organisations (CSOs) have asked Government to introduce a comprehensive and efficient national property taxation system that will help mobilise more revenue for the country.
The CSOs noted that there was too much focus on indirect taxes in the country, hence the growing national debt.
Alex Ampaabeng, Fiscal Policy Analyst at Oxfam Ghana, in a presentation at a recent forum on what CSOs expected Government to do in the 2022 budget to be presented Monday, November 15, 2021 in Parliament, said government should provide a clear-cut strategy for tackling the growing public debt and a pathway to debt sustainability.
“The increment in the VAT is having a disproportionate impact on the poor, the very people the government is trying so hard to save from impact of some indirect taxes. It’s time for us to look at property taxation. I also recommend government must have a clear strategy for tackling growing public debt”.
Charles Gyamfi Ofori, Policy Lead, Climate Change and Energy Transition at the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), who also spoke at the forum, indicated that the government should abandon plans for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and optimise the utilisation of domestic gas.
He also called for a collaboration between the private sector and the public sector in the management of the energy sector institutions
“It is shown from research and analysis that given our gas reserves from domestic sources and also from export through the pipeline, Ghana does not need additional import of gas through LNG within the short-to-medium term. We are recommending that government should abandon the importation of LNG products into the country.”
The CSOs budget forum comprises of civil society organisations in Ghana with interest on influencing the national budget.
Myjoyonline