<\/p>\n
Dr Anthony Yaw Baah<\/strong><\/p>\n PRESIDENT NANA Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated that it will be very difficult for government to remove taxes on petroleum products especially in these challenging times.<\/p>\n According to him, Ghana\u2019s current economic condition will not allow for tax reduction.<\/p>\n He said government is currently confronted by very tight financing conditions, in the wake of inadequate domestic revenue mobilisation and therefore removing taxes on petroleum products will reduce government revenues by some GH\u00a24 billion.<\/p>\n He said the government is rather determined to expand the country\u2019s revenue base in order to be able to finance the country\u2019s development thereby cannot afford to reduce tax revenues by GH\u00a24 billion.<\/p>\n This follows the Trades Union Congress (TUC)\u2019s demands from government to reduce taxes on petroleum product due to the rising cost of living in Ghana because of the high fuel prices.<\/p>\n Secretary-General of the TUC, Dr. Anthony Yaw Baah, in a letter to the Finance Ministry on Monday, March 21, 2022, said \u201cThe situation must be addressed without further delay, otherwise many more Ghanaians will be pushed into destitution.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Baah noted in the letter how fuel prices have increased astronomically since January, obviously impacting on the cost of living.<\/p>\n \u201cWe propose that Government must immediately suspend all taxes and levies on petrol, diesel, LPG, and kerosene\u2026This should bring down prices of these fuel products by an average of about 15 percent\u2026The suspension should remain in force until the international price of crude oil stabilises and the decline of the cedi has been halted,\u201d he suggested.<\/p>\n However, speaking at this year\u2019s May Day celebration on Sunday May 1, 2022, President Akufo-Addo mentioned that \u201cIndeed, some of the revenues from these same taxes on petroleum products is what is used to pay some of the salaries of some of the seven hundred thousand (700,000) public sector workers on Government\u2019s payroll. We are addressing the issue of fuel price increases by implementing measures that are succeeding in stabilising the exchange rate, a key determinant of fuel prices. Government is also working hard to ensure reliable supply and availability of petroleum products, thereby preventing shortages, a phenomenon which is being experienced in some other neighbouring countries. By the same token, we are keeping the lights on in Ghana.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should bear in mind that, even though we are a modest producer of crude oil, with a current output of one hundred and forty-eight thousand (148,000) barrels per day, we are still a net importer of petroleum products. We, therefore, continue to be vulnerable to the price volatilities of the world market for petroleum products.<\/p>\n \u201cNonetheless, intense efforts are being made to rehabilitate the Tema Oil Refinery, to enable it contribute to stabilising petroleum prices, which should see the light of day very soon. We are also encouraging private companies to establish refineries in the country, one of which is eighty percent (80%) complete, and is expected to be commissioned before the end of this year.<\/p>\n \u201cSecretary General, as we work to address these issues, we cannot take adhoc<\/em> measures that will only give temporary reprieve, and only aggravate the situation even more in the medium to long-term. As much as possible, let us use existing institutions and sustainable measures to address these concerns,\u201d he advised.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n BY Vincent Kubi<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dr Anthony Yaw Baah PRESIDENT NANA Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated that it will be very difficult for government to remove taxes on petroleum products especially in these challenging times. According to him, Ghana\u2019s current economic condition will not allow for tax reduction. He said government is currently confronted by very tight financing conditions, in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1075811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[3408,2973,11753,1007],"class_list":{"0":"post-1075808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-petroleum","9":"tag-products","10":"tag-removing","11":"tag-taxes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1075808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1075808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1075808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1075808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}