Accra, Nov 17, GNA – The Government has outlined new policy measures aimed at sharing the burden of raising revenue domestically to meet its “Ghana Beyond Aid” agenda.
“We cannot, therefore, as a nation continue to depend on only 8.2 per cent of our citizens to carry the burden of 30.8 million people,” said the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta when he delivered the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy on Wednesday.
He highlighted key policy changes, including the extension of the Value Added Tax (VAT) relief for two years on African Print for textile manufacturers; a review of the temporary benchmark (discount) policy on imports and the limiting of the 3 per cent flat rate which was introduced in 2017 on the sales price of goods supplied retailers and wholesalers to only affect retailers with annual turnover not exceeding GH¢500,000.
He also disclosed that the law on Modified Taxation System introduced in 2015 to provide a simplified system of tax compliance for the informal sector and small-scale individuals will be amended to increase the threshold from GH¢200,000 to GH¢500,000 per annum.
“We are committed to a programme of turning our enterprising traders into manufacturers of widgets, tools, and other machinery necessary as inputs for our industrial growth,” he said.
To curb the smuggling of unprocessed gold for export, the government, he said, “has decided to reduce the withholding tax rate for sale of unprocessed gold by small-scale miners on whom the incidence of the tax is from three per cent to 1.5 per cent.”
“Government is committed to working with the relevant agencies and stakeholders in the industry to ensure compliance,” he said.
The government through the Ghana Revenue Authority, he said, would from January 2022, assist the Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA) to implement a common platform for property rate administration to enhance Property rate collections and its accountability.
Other policy changes include abolishing road tolls, the introduction of the electronic levy and the fees and charge law, which has been laid before parliament as a bill.