What moral right do you have to ask for more taxes and more money? - Prof. Bokpin to Ofori Atta

Professor Godfred Bokpin, an economist and lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School has stated that Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has no moral right to demand additional money or taxes from the state, given the economic challenges the country is facing.

During the mid-year budget review, Ken Ofori-Atta revealed that the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government would not seek additional money from Parliament. He attributed this decision to the progress made in non-oil tax revenue collection within the year.

However, Professor Bokpin in response to the minister argued that the burden placed on Ghanaians far exceeds that of other countries and as a result, the minister had no option to introduce more taxes or seek additional money from the state.

Speaking in an interview on Neat FM on August 1, 2023, he questioned the effectiveness of tax utilization and highlighted concerns about corruption and procurement infractions that result in the loss of a significant portion of tax funds.

Professor Bokpin emphasized that the current approach to revenue generation and spending is causing more pain than progress.

“What moral right do you have to ask for more taxes and more money? Are Ghanaians not overburdened? Are we not overburdened, since COVID time, which country has introduced the kind of taxes that Ghana has introduced…we have more than enough, and we are getting to the point where people are getting fed up, and businesses are getting fed up. In this country, if you import things just look at the taxes involved.

“Today if you go shopping and when you take the receipt, taxes take up more space than the things that you bought …too many taxes …if the taxes were to be used for its purpose fine but the majority of the taxes are lost through corruption, procurement infractions…we claim we are building roads, where are the roads …we appreciate the governments that they are trying to make things better, but the approach they have adopted is inflicting a lot more pain.”



AM/SARA