Seminar participants call for creation of tax education fund

Koforidua, March 18, GNA - Participants at a tax education durbar organized by the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) at Koforidua have called for the establishment of a tax education fund to enable a coordinate body of tax institutions to embark on regular education to educate the people on their tax obligations. They said by so doing, a lot of the citizens would understand the need for them to honour their tax obligation to the state and help expand the tax net. The Eastern Regional Director of the NCCE, Mr Emmanuel Quaye-Sowah, said honouring tax obligations by the citizens was crucial to Ghana's survival and development. He said an area where Ghanaians have generally defaulted was the payment of their tax although that remained very cardinal to the survival of the nation. Mr Quaye-Sowah cited many examples of tax default and called for a change towards a more positive attitude towards the payment of taxes and said the NCCE was willing to collaborate with all agencies to promote such agenda. Delivering a paper on the impact of the Value Added Tax on national development, a Tax officer with the VAT Service, Mr Nathan Danquah, spoke about the impressive development of infrastructure in tertiary institutions and the introduction of the National Health Insurance as among the contributions of VAT to national development.