I paid 21 taxes at the port for an imported item - Twitter user laments

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An aggrieved citizen has expressed concerns over the high cost of importation in Ghana. According to him, it is unreasonable for people to pay twenty-one (21) taxes just for importing goods through the port of Ghana.

In a post shared on Twitter, the tweep with the handle @mr_shocks_ published a document indicating the types of taxes that citizens pay when they import through the ports of Ghana.

In his post he wrote, “Today I will try and show the various taxes you pay amounting to the total costs of your Port Duty. GRA - Boe from Customs. 21 taxes.”

He added, “I paid 25,261 cedis as import duty and 44,182 cedis as import VAT, however, the total amount to be paid was 101,321 cedis.”

Some of the 21 taxes importers pay for a car include ; Import Duty, Import VAT, Processing Fee, ECOWAS levy, Network Charge, Network Charge VAT, Network Charge COVID-19 Health, Ghana Shippers Authority SNF fee, Import NHIL, Network Charge NHIL, IRS Tax deposit,GHS dinsfection fee, MoTIe e-IDF fee, Special Import Levy, Ghana Export-Import bank (EXIM) and money more.

To corroborate with his worries is the president of policy think-tank, IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe who in recent post on Twitter also questioned the rationale behind paying import tax more than half the value of the imported product. According to him, Ghana’s import tax can simply be described as a state-motivated crime.

“How do you buy a car abroad for GHS 114,000 and pay a total tax of nearly 74,000 just to clear the car for use? This is state-sponsored thuggery,” Franklin Cudjoe explained in a tweet published on his Twitter page.

The Government of Ghana, through the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, in 2019, applied a 50 percent discount on duties payable on all general goods, and 30 percent discount on vehicles to encourage more importation and tax compliance as well as alleviate the economic burden on the trading and consuming public. This discount was further reduced to 30 percent and 10 percent respectively in 2021. However, beginning January 1, 2023, the discount policy has been scrapped.

Check out their tweets

Today I will try and show the various taxes you pay amounting to the total costs of your Port Duty

GRA - Boe from Customs.

21 TAXES!!

NB: The Import Duty - 25,261 cedis
The Import VAT - 44,182 cedis (????how?)

But the Total payment was 101,312 cedis!!! ??? pic.twitter.com/18ztUpbz1R
— Ben Asare (@Mr_Shocks_) April 18, 2023

How do you buy a car abroad for GHS 114,000 and pay a total tax of nearly 74,000 just to clear the car for use? This is state-sponsored thuggery. This is why importers collude with custom officers to evade taxes.
— Franklin CUDJOE (@lordcudjoe) April 18, 2023