An acting Assistant commissioner of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Mrs. Elizabeth Hammond has reiterated the Authority’s commitment to widening the tax net to include more businesses and individuals from the informal sector.
The GRA in 2012 rolled out a Small Taxpayer Scheme to rope in majority of players in the informal sector into the tax net.
However the system has faced some challenges since its inception.
In an interview with Citi Business News on the side lines of a training seminar for companies on the latest trend on tax reforms in Ghana in Accra on Wednesday, the acting Assistant commissioner in Charge of the Adabraka Branch of the of the GRA, Mrs. Elizabeth Hammond emphasised that the GRA is on course to bridging the gap between potential and actual tax payers in the informal sector.
Mrs. Hammond stated that, “every tax jurisdiction also have its segment of tax payers and some may be high end, middle and low end so we modules to meet those needs. We are focusing on our high to middle end tax payers, however we do have a program for the lower end or informal sector as we usually will call them all of the package across board. We have a system we call the tax camp which rate taxes for as low as GHC5 to GHC45.”
The commissioner also added that, “If everybody consistently pays that amount they make inputs and in roll in our revenue collection. We have packages for everybody including itinerants, traders, people who are selling on top of tables as well those in small stores like containers.”
She was of the view that because people are trying to outsmart the system the GRA has also evolved to close the gap.
She said, “the system we use in Ghana is a progressive tax system, the more you earn then you pay more so to who much is given much is required. We are not over burdening anyone but it is our responsibility to pay taxes for the development of our country. We are including everybody in the tax net from the lower end to the higher end.”
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Kojo Agyeman/Citifmonline.com/Ghana