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Take action against businesses that fail to honour tax responsibilities – Economist

An economist, Courage Boti, has urged the Finance Minister Dr Ato Forson to take decisive action against businesses that fail to fulfil their tax responsibilities to the government.

Mr Boti said “this is one of the surest ways to deal with rev­enue shortfalls and mobilisation challenges.”

He was speaking on Joy news programme dubbed ‘PM Express Business Edition’ on Thursday.

Additionally, he contended that resolving tax compliance issue would not put pressure on the government to introduce new taxes or push for increases.

“We have too many taxes in this country and there is no need to introduce a new one to raise the required revenue to support government’s expenditure,” he stated.

“If we are heavy on compli­ance in this country, we can raise the required revenue to address the low tax to GDP ratio as well as meet the country’s rising expenditure,” he indicated.

However, he stressed that “compliance is the way to looking at how the economy is currently expanding.”

Mr Boti’s proposals followed fears that government could be

 compelled to increase fees and charges, and introduce new taxes after scrapping e-ley, betting tax and the Covid-19 levy.

The government could lose about GH¢10 billion every year if the e-ley, betting tax and the Covid-19 levy are removed.

Finance Minister Dr Forson, during his recent vetting in par­liament, reiterated government’s commitment to go ahead and remove the taxes.

The Ghana Revenue Au­thority ended 2024, mobilising GH¢153 billion in tax revenue, 5.2 per cent more than the GH¢145 billion projected for 2025.

BY TIMES REPORTER

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