The Minister of Finance, Seth Terkper, who is vested with the power to implement policies in the financial sector, has taken to social media platform twitter, to express his frustration with the current property tax system, describing it as weak.
In his tweet, he noted that he was an assembly member for 8 years (with the Yilo District Assembly) and then stated that Ghana’s property tax system has become weak especially for areas with commercial property.
A couple of years ago, President John Mahama, in a bid to tackle one of the key impediments to an efficient property tax collection system, directed the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, to ensure that all streets in the country were named, and houses also numbered, within 18 months.
That directive was carried out and at present, the new tax regime also holds that income derived from the sale of low cost affordable residential premises, approved by Minister for Works and Housing for the first 5 years, will attract a tax of 1 percent.
The rent of residential property for individuals and non-residential property will also attract a tax of 8 and 15 percent respectively.
Property tax is levied annually by local authorities on the estimated value of the property, depending on the classification of the area where the property is located.
Going by his tweet, it appears Mr. Tekper is unsatisfied with these developments and wants more done about the tax system but some Ghanaians feel he should act instead of joining the complaints on twitter.
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By Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana