New taxes: Clerks in Parliament have to answer on results from head count – Sam George

The Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Sam Nartey George, has established that the Minority fought against the passage of the new tax bills in parliament on Friday, March 31, 2023.

In the wake of the passage, Sam George has opined that something may have gone wrong regarding the headcount during Friday’s vote.

“If we had acquiesced we wouldn’t have gone through the vote, we wouldn’t have accounted for our 136, we wouldn’t have challenged what appeared to be an error in counting. We are aware now that at the time we did the first count Mohammed Tuferu was not in Parliament.

“There are two [majority] MPs who also walked in after the clerks had finished taking the vote from the majority side, so clearly, that vote shouldn’t have read 136, 137, but be that as it may, the Speaker only announces what it is presented to him,” Sam George was quoted by citinewsroom.com.

According to him, “the clerks have a question to answer as to how they managed to get 137.”

On Friday, March 31, 2023, Parliament passed three new taxes.

These were the Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2022, the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill, 2022, and the Income Tax Amendment Bill 2022.

The taxes are expected to rake in about GH¢4 billion in Ghana annually as part of the government’s domestic revenue mobilization agenda and move to secure an IMF bailout.

Watch the latest edition of BizTech and Biz Headlines below:







SSD/MA