Chris Ackumey, a legal practitioner and member of the ruling National Democratic Congress, has called on the Ghana Revenue Authority to widen the tax net in order to generate huge revenues to develop the economy.
He expressed disapproval over the exemption of some high income earners in the country.
To him, the practice where employees are largely obliged to pay taxes on their incomes should rather cover all Ghanaians in order to expedite the growth of the nation.
He was speaking in relation to the President’s filing of his 2012 tax returns to the Ghana Revenue Authority.
According to him, legal practitioners including engineers, architects among other workers should be mandated by law to pay taxes on their incomes. This he believes is the surest way to accerelate progress of the country.
He therefore elucidated that “the bane of tax payment is largely on only employees in this country which is very, very bad. I was thinking that it is high time our tax administrators make very, very strenuous effort to widen the tax net so that all persons including myself, lawyers, engineers, architects, majority of us who are not caught up in the tax net are brought in. That’s the only way we can have an accelerated economic development.”
“But to rely on poor teachers, nurses and the rest who don’t have any way. At the end of every month, their taxes are deducted by way of payee and paid to the Internal Revenue Service or GRA is not the best solution. I think we need to be very aggressive,” he stressed.
Also, making his submissions on Radio Gold, Chris Ackumey disagreed with critics who argue that President Mahama’s action at the GRA is in contravention with article 68 (5) of the 1992 Constitution which states that "the President shall not, while he continues in office as President hold any other office of profit or emolument whether private or public and whether directly or indirectly."
He explained that the President as a law enforcement agent only sought to obey the tax regulations in order to leave a good mark for other tax payers.
In his view, what may have called for the President’s action is his pursuit to “comply to the laws of this country. So, setting the example for others to follow is not anything which will be described as a public gimmick.”
He added that President Mahama may have taken such step to declare the returns he obtained during his era as a Vice President in the late President Mills’ administration.
“If he wants to file a return, I believe that that should cover the period when he was not the President and also any other income which is not by way of salary, gratuity, petition and other sort of thing. So, there is nothing wrong with what the President did,” he stated.
Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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