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General News of Friday, 26 March 2021

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Here's why this govt has better taxes than the former regime - Ken Ofori-Atta explains

Ken Ofori-Atta spent two days before the Appointments Committee after being away on medical grounds Ken Ofori-Atta spent two days before the Appointments Committee after being away on medical grounds

The minister-designate for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has indicated that the taxes imposed on Ghanaians by the current government are far better than those of the previous administration.

He explained that the measures that have been put in place by the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo administration, coupled with the ravages that the Coronavirus has brought on the country, it cannot be said that they have hurt Ghanaians with taxes.

Ken Ofori-Atta was responding to a question from Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, a Deputy Ranking Member on the Appointments Committee of Parliament on whether he thought the taxes imposed on the citizenry now are worse than before.

Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin: Would you say that you have imposed more taxes on Ghanaians than the previous regime?

Ken Ofori-Atta: Mr. Chairman, No, I wouldn't say that. I think if you look at the raft of taxes that we abolished, the reduction in electricity, at some point, what we did in the COVID period and still be able to sustain the type of growth that we have and still exit the IMF program, it is quite clear that on a net-net-basis, we have not really hurt the Ghanaian taxpayer and it's a lot better than if we look at the statistics for 2016 in which productivity was down and yet, certain taxes were raised which we came to abolish.

Ken Ofori-Atta is the last of this set of appointees nominated by the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to be vetted by Parliament.