Blankson rallies revenue agencies together

By Phyllis D. Osabutey
THE NEWLY appointed Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Mr. George V. Blankson has said that an integrated effort of the Customs Exercise and Preventive Service (CEPS), Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Value Added Tax Service (VATS) would ensure effective revenue mobilization for Ghana.
He said these three bodies must unite in their common task of revenue mobilization and protection of society, to enhance their efficiency and the functions of the integrated revenue authority, saying, “we have everything to gain by integrating our four revenue agencies and our processes and procedures”.
According to him, forging an integrated revenue authority that functions as a cohesive modern revenue administration from the legal ashes of three separate revenue agencies; CEPS, IRS and VATS would however be a challenging task.
He explained that the difficulty stems from the fact that these agencies have for decades operated independently under a fourth agency, the Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB), which on account of the constraints imposed by law, existed like an empire.
Speaking to members of staff of the GRA during visits to GRA offices in Accra and Tema last week, Mr. Blankson observed that the difficulty was further entrenched by the fact that “each of the four agencies, particularly the three operational institutions CEPS, IRS and VATS have over the years strived to maintain and consolidate their independence.”
This, he noted, had resulted in a strong institutional loyalty and sense of uniqueness to the extent that the agencies have sometimes come close to professional and institutional rivalry, stressing, “The staff of each agency has always prided themselves in the uniqueness of their respective agencies.”
Another challenge he pointed out was the responsibility to continue working hard to collect revenue and even improve on collection while still carrying out a reform of the single Revenue institution and operational procedures and processes.
However, he was optimistic that the GRA would achieve success through a joint determination to work towards the mission of the integrated revenue authority, saying, “We can easily overcome by each of us turning round and redirecting our steps towards one central point.”
Furthermore, he noted that the integrated revenue authority would succeed because the work of revenue administration irrespective of the type of revenue instrument, involves receiving and processing returns, examining the records of the taxpayer to ascertain veracity of declarations, managing/enforcing payment of debts, and offering services to the taxpayer to facilitate and promote compliance.
The Commissioner-General indicated that the best way to obtain maximum result was to engage staff and management to develop programmes and projects to cover every facet of their business operations.
“The programmes/projects will then become the vehicle by which we shall deliver on the establishment of an integrated revenue and modernization of our business procedures and processes”, he stressed.
Also, he outlined in detail, a plan of action that includes defining the vision and mission of the GRA, developing goals and objectives to achieve desired results, stating, “The output of this entire process clearly set out in a document will constitute the blue-print for working towards our vision.”
He told all the stakeholders to see integrated revenue authority as a productivity enhancing innovation in revenue administration which can only be resisted at a heavy cost to their standing as revenue professionals and the nation at large.
He urged them, saying, “Colleagues in the revenue profession, integration and modernization is the only way to go now, there is no other way,” adding, “We cannot afford to delay the integration and modernization of our revenue administration any longer”.
He further indicated that it has never been Ghana’s lot to trail behind in the adoption of progressive change. “We should all put our shoulders to wheel, recover the grounds lost in reforming our revenue system to meet the highest standards of modern revenue administration”, he said.
Concluding, he stressed that there was bound to be problems in achieving a successful integrated revenue authority, but the more important thing would be for all the revenue agencies to remain focused and committed to the course, saying, “I dream of a Ghana Revenue Authority that by the end of my tenure as Commissioner General will be a world-class revenue authority administering all revenue handles seamlessly in accordance with international best practice”.
Appointment
Mr. George Vincent Blankson was appointed the Commissioner-General for the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) last month by President John Evans Atta Mills, under Section 13(1) of the GRA Act, 2009 (Act 791).
Section 13 of the Act provides for the appointment of a Commissioner-General to head an integrated Revenue Authority comprising the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service, the Internal Revenue Service, the VAT Service and the Revenue Agencies Governing Board.
The newly-appointed Commissioner-General is a Tax Reform Consultant/Tax Administrator and Economist with specialization in revenue modernization, VAT administration, design and implementation of tax procedures as well as economic analysis and revenue forecasting.
Until his appointment as the Commissioner-General, Mr. Blankson worked for Crown Agents as a Lead consultant/ Manager to the DFID support to the National Revenue Authority (NRA) project, Sierra Leone.
His responsibilities at the NRA Sierra Leone involved advising the Commissioner-General on all the operational business areas covered by the project. He was the lead advisor on all aspects of design and implementation of Value Added Tax (VAT), as well as working with other consultants to develop and implement a Revenue Authority modernisation programme.
Among his achievements at the NRA was the effective management of the project which impressed the DFID to expand the scope and budget of the project in 2007 to include an additional component: a Short Term Revenue Improvement Programme (STRIP).
The Commissioner-General was a Deputy Commissioner in charge of Operations at the VAT Service, Ghana from 1998 to 2005, Deputy Director of Operations on the VAT project, Ministry of Finance, 1993-1998.
In 2003, Mr. Blankson led a three-member consulting team from the Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to the Republic of Gambia to train the Sales Tax Staff of the Inland Revenue Department on the draft Sales Tax Regime as well as review and submit comments on the draft legislation.
He was an Assistant Commissioner in charge of Research and Monitoring at the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) from 1986-1993.
Mr. Blankson has attended a number of conferences and seminars both home and abroad and has a number of publications to his credit. Some of his publications include “Enhancing Tax Compliance Under VAT in Ghana”, a paper which was presented at the International Seminar on Taxation, Senior Course Two in Tokyo, Japan in 2003, “Exemption and Zero-Rating Under VAT: The Ghanaian Experience and Lessons”, a paper presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Forum of Commissioners of VAT in Africa held at Livingston, Zambia in 2001 among others.
The newly appointed Commissioner-General holds an M.SC Economics with specialization in Taxation from the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago, B.A (Hons) Economics from the University of Ghana, and a Certificate in Senior Taxation Course from the National Tax College, Tokyo, Japan.