Chamber of Commerce cautions president against assenting to revenue tax bills

The Tema branch of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industries (GNCCI) has called on the President not to assent into law the recently passed three revenue taxes.

Mr Michael Kabutey Caesar, Chairman of the GNCCI, Tema Branch, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Tema on the sidelines of the Chamber’s bimonthly business meeting, reiterated that President Akufo-Addo must not assent to the bill as the timing was wrong.

Mr. Caesar said the economy was too volatile for businesses, and therefore, bringing in the new taxes would spell doom for the business community, which would have a rippling effect on everything in the country.

He stated that members of the GNCCI were currently struggling to get their businesses to survive as it was expensive to operate, making it difficult for them to even pay salaries and other benefits as their recurrent revenue kept soaring.

He revealed that some of the members, who used to import seven containers of goods at a time, had reduced the volumes to about two due to the slash in their capital resulting from the high levies and taxes on the clearing of goods at Ghana’s ports.

He added that such occurrences have a negative effect on logistics, shipping, freight forwarding, and clearing agent companies as well as the revenue base of the country due to the drop in the volume of cargo coming to the country.

The GNCCI Tema Chairman also noted that the instability in the forex market and the high utility tariffs for firms were also causes for concern, saying all that was already taking a toll on businesses, therefore it would be prudent to postpone the implementation of the new revenue taxes.

He said the effect of the economic downturn was not only on logistics, and import-related companies, as, according to him, local manufacturing companies were also having their share of the negative effects.

Mr. Caesar opined that increases in utility costs, taxation, and an unfavourable environment were also making it difficult for local companies to maintain and expand their businesses, leading to the layoff of workers and resulting in unemployment.

He encouraged businesses to adopt prudent management styles with a focus on sustainable innovation and creativity to enable them to survive the turbulent times.

Touching on the need for the dialogue on the “Analysis of financial trends and the way forward for businesses” during the meeting, he said his outfit recognized the many happenings on the economic front and thought it wise to get an expert to bring to the fore the data that would help members properly plan and survive.

He noted that training programmes would be organised for members this year, adding that topics would cover how to craft an effective business profile and business plan, the impact of digital marketing on businesses, how to do effective sales presentations, and change management, which is a necessary toolkit for business growth.

Source: newsghana.com.gh