General Secretary of the Automobile Dealers Union, Clifford Ansu
Government asked not to introduce new taxes
‘Meeting government won’t change anything’ – Clifford Ansu on benchmark reversal
Benchmark value policy reversal to take effect from Jan. 7,
2022
General Secretary of the Automobile Dealers Union, Clifford Ansu, has called on the government to prioritize the scrapping of nuisance taxes in their line of work instead of the reversal of benchmark values.
According to Clifford Ansu, some of the tax components like the network charges are affecting members of his outfit.
“Some of the tax components that affect vehicle importers have to be removed. Like the network charges on all the taxes. You are paying a network charge on National Health Insurance, COVID-19 Recovery Levy, African Union Tax, among others. These network changes need to be removed. We want the whole policy reversal to be scrapped. Even after scrapping the reversal, they must make sure new taxes are not introduced into the system,” he said according to a Citi Business report.
Government has announced the removal of the 30%-50% discount on imported items by 17th January 2022.
Various trade unions and associations have asked government to reconsider its decision since the reversal will increase the cost of imports and result in an increase in the price of affected items.
A meeting was held on Thursday, January 6, 2022, and chaired by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.
This saw about 8 different trade unions including the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), and the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana among others, who are vehemently kicking against the scrapping of the revised benchmark value policy.
But the Automobile Dealers Union of Ghana, importers of vehicles, after the meeting said the engagements will not yield their desired results since the government has refused to listen to their concerns.
“When this benchmark value reduction policy was introduced, the government also introduced a special import levy of 2.5% on duties charged at the ports. The government also brought in Africa Union Levy and network charges as well. When you put the charges introduced together, they exceed the 30% reduction for vehicles introduced in 2019.”
“Now it looks like the 30% discount we enjoyed is going to be taken away from us which will ultimately increase the prices of imported cars. The situation is very bad. Meeting GUTA on this matter at this time is not necessary. This is because GUTA earlier met with the Finance Ministry and held several discussions on this matter. The government did not listen to the proposals made by GUTA back then. They went ahead to introduce the revised policy. Meeting them again will not lead to a reversal of the policy,” he added.