Ghana Revenue Authority launches national tax Campaign
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has launched a national tax campaign to awaken the consciousness of Ghanaians to honour their tax obligations for continuous development.
The campaign on the slogan #OurTaxesOurFuture” is aimed at encouraging Ghanaians to voluntarily pay their tax.
Speaking at the launch, Mr Emmanuel Kofi Nti, the acting Commissioner-General GRA, said the tax campaign was aimed at increasing awareness among Ghanaians on tax issues, enhance their understanding and appreciation of the importance of taxes and the benefits to national development.
Although many Ghanaians are engaged in income earning activities, especially in the informal sector, only about 1.2 million people are registered for tax purposes.
Out of this, about one million people are in the formal sector and about 200,000 in the informal sector.
Mr Nti said there was the urgent need to reverse the low contribution of the informal sector, which plays a dominant role in the economy, to enable it to contribute its quota to the national kitty.
“This is a huge task, which calls for the involvement of all Ghanaians and to bring as many people as we can to the tax net and help bridge the gap between public expenditures and revenues,” he said.
Mr Nti said since tax mobilisation is a shared responsibility between citizens and the tax administration, GRA was collaborating with organisations such as the National Commission for Civic Education, the Information Services Department and the media to execute the campaign.
He appealed to Ghanaians to furnish the GRA with relevant information about various business activities in their vicinity to enable the GRA to bring the business operators into the tax net.
Mr Nti said that apart from being rewarded a percentage of the tax recovered from such payments, the identities of the citizens would be kept confidential.
“It is my hope that with the cooperation of the public, GRA will from now be in a position to increase revenue collection to appreciable levels to considerably reduce Ghana’s dependence on foreign aid,” he said.
Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, who launched the campaign urged all Ghanaians to pay their taxes to support the country’s capacity to deliver on public goods such as education, health and security.
He said there was the need for Associations and groups to take interest and play proactive roles in encouraging members to fulfil their tax obligations.
Mr Paa Kofi Ansong, a member of the Council of State, who chaired the launch, said the campaign is a call to action for all Ghanaians to contribute to build the country.
“It takes a great vision to launch a campaign of this magnitude to educate the public as well as encourage all potential taxpayers to regularise their operations and documents,” he said.
Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, who launched the campaign, urged Ghanaians to fulfil their tax obligations to support government to meet its commitment of providing public goods such as education, health and security, among others.
He also called on Associations and groups to ensure their members meet tax obligations.
The objective of the national tax campaign is to engage as many potential taxpayers as possible and encourage them to comply with their tax obligations voluntarily to increase revenue generation.
To this end, GRA is collaborating with the National Commission for Civic Education and the Information Services Department to carry the discussions and messages to all districts, churches, mosques, markets, community meetings, buses and ‘trotros’, among others.
Source: GNA