National Reconstruction Levy dealing a blow to industry

Some industry players have expressed reservations about government's insistence on collecting the National Reconstruction Levy, which, they say, is having a heavy toll on their overall incomes.

Officials of a number of banks and manufacturing entities under the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF) umbrella have also recently complained about the negative effect of the Levy on their operations, which, they indicated, should be brought to an end quickly.

They welcomed the significance and the use of the levy, which is for development purposes saying: "It is important that they are actually used for the purposes for which they were collected."

Mr Emmanuel Idun, Finance Director of Unilever Ghana Limited, stopped short of kicking against the Levy but said industry players hoped that its collection would actually end after the renewed three year period.

Mr Idun was responding to a question on the Levy at a breakfast meeting with members of the Institute of Financial and Economic Journalists (IFEJ).

The meeting was called to discuss the company's operations last year and provide an insight into projections aimed at increasing customer satisfaction in the years ahead.

"We are definitely not happy with the continued collection of the Levy anyway and hope that the levy would end in the new three years that the government has stated. Otherwise, it becomes an income tax and must be introduced into the system appropriately."

Unilever paid a total of 2.5 billion cedis as National Reconstruction Levy in 2001, increasing to 3.2 billion cedis in 2002.

The National Reconstruction Levy was first introduced in government's interim budget of 2001 and was intended to develop a strong base for long-term development finance for the country.

Other industry players told the GNA that though the reason for the levy was welcomed its impact had become a difficult thing to bear.

"What we do not like is a hidden tax component on production. This is not convenient for our productivity as it goes to affect company profits and our ability to meet targeted projections, not to talk about the impact on consumers," an industrialist said.