The United Nations Peace Ambassador to Ghana Dr Samuel Ben Owusu has rejected the 2.5 per cent increment in the Value Added Tax (VAT) as announced by the Finance Minister in the 2023 budget statement.
In his view, the increment, if approved, will deepen the economic hardship that the people are going through.
Addressing the press in Accra on Thursday December 8 the Country Director for International Association of World Peace Advocates (IAWPA) Ghana Chapter said “if you look at the Finance Minister’s Debt Exchange statement and also his fiscal policies in the budget…he is increasing VAT by 2.5 per cent
“We are already going through a lot, people are going through hardships.”
The Finance Minister proposed in the 2023 budget presentation an increment in the VAT by 2.5 per cent.
The standard VAT rate is 12.5%, except for supplies of a wholesaler or retailer of goods, which are taxed at a total flat rate of 3%.
The proposal to increase the rate formed part of the seven point agenda to revitalize the economy, the Finance Minister told Parliament on Thursday November 24.
The seven-point agenda is ‘Aggressively mobilize domestic revenue; Streamline and rationalise expenditures; Boost local productive capacity; Promote and diversify exports; Protect the poor and vulnerable; Expand digital and climate-responsive physical infrastructure; and Implement structural and public sector reforms.’
The Minority in Parliament rejected the proposal.
Their Leader Haruna Iddrisu also said earlier in Parliament that he was surprised that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who led a demonstration in 1995 against the the introduction of the VAT by the then Rawlings administration, is now seeking to increase it.
Source: 3news.com