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Drive up property rates, land-based taxes to fast-track devt-Osafo-Maafo

The Senior Presidential Advisor, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, has charged the 5th Local Government Service Council to help drive up domestic resource mobilisation especially in the areas of property rates and other land-based taxes.

He said it was worrying that the country realised only 0.03 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from such rates and taxes when countries in Africa and beyond were making more for various development projects.

“Gambia generates revenue from property rates and taxes  about 17 times more than we do in Ghana. In Mauritius , they are doing 33times better than us  and in  South Africa, they are realising 50 times than what we are doing.

“We cannot be proud  as local government actors with such under performance and the least you can do as a council is to turn this disturbing situation around”, he said when he inaugurated the Council in Accra yesterday.

The 14 -member Council is chaired by Dr  David Wellington Essaw with members including the Head of Local Government Service, Dr Nana Ato Arthur; Dr Kodjo Esseim Mensah-Abrampa;  Director General of National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and the Common Fund Administrator, Irene Naa Torshie Addo.

Mr Osafo-Maafo who led them to swear the Oaths of  Office, allegiance and Secrecy, said the need to increase revenue mobilisation had become pertinent,  especially when the COVID-19 pandemic had put a strain on central government allocation and subversions.

He said after three decades after the country started its decentralization process,  it was strange that  with the kind of properties in most Assemblies in cities like Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi and others, most of them still depended  on the central government for sanitation expenses as well as relied heavily on the District Assemblies Common Fund.

He said the 2021 population and housing census  data which showed that 80 per cent of the 10.7 million structures in the country were brick and mortar, with 60 per cent being residential property presented an opportunity for the Assemblies to collaborate with relevant authorities to use the information to  shore up property tax collection, since nearly all of the structures  had  QR codes for easy identification.

“There should be no excuses for the Assemblies not to improve the Internally Generated Funds and wean themselves off the central government budget and common fund” he said.

In order to justify the collection of such rates and taxes, Mr Osafo-Maafo  said there must be visible signs of improvement at the community level.

On behalf of the Council, Dr Essaw thanked the president for the opportunity to serve, pledging to bring on board their expertise to help achieve the government’s local government and decentralization vision.#

BY JONATHAN DONKOR

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