Gov’t to raise GHS 371m from proposed tax hikes

Government is hoping to raise some 371 million Ghana cedis from the proposed tax hikes.

Government is currently working to place three separate bills before parliament to secure the necessary legal backing for the increases.

The three bills: the National Stabilization Levy; Customs and Excise; and Special Import bill will soon be laid before parliament.

Government is hoping to raise 88 million Ghana cedis from the Stabilization Levy, by imposing 5 percent on the profits of institutions, such as banks and other financial institutions, mining firms and the Telcos. The levy would only be applied for 18 months.

But with the Customs and Excise bill, government will impose 20 percent on mobile phone handsets imported into the country to raise 49.8 million Ghana cedis.

This is to protect local manufactures of mobile phone handsets. Some industry watchers say this tax will have implications for users who may have to bear the brunt of this hike in terms of price increases.

However, there is good news for manufactures of plastic materials, as government is planning to reduce the 15 percent tax on their inputs to 5 percent.

Finally, you might be paying more for imported goods as government is looking at imposing some taxes on items brought from outside.

The Finance Minister, Seth Terkper believes these taxes will help address revenue shortfalls.

But some economists are proposing that government rather widens the tax net.