Flagbearer of the Progressive People’s Party in the 2012 election, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom has called for the removal of the tax exemption status enjoyed by presidents of Ghana.
According to the Income Tax 2015 (Act 896), the salary, allowance, facilities, pension and gratuity of the President in accordance with Article 68(5) of the Constitution is exempted from tax.
[contextly_sidebar id=”QuzaGxGZnunZhQ7j2ROYDoPfmsExbuqy”]Dr Ndoum however believes the president must pay taxes on his earnings based on the recent increases in taxes on individuals and businesses and also to encourage other citizens do same.
The PPP flagbearer believes the clause in the constitution that exempts the president from paying tax is wrong and negates his moral capacity to ask his citizens, who take care of him, to pay tax.
Dr Nduom during an interaction with the media said “the item in the constitution that exempts the president from paying tax is wrong, absolutely wrong… You can’t have the president not paying tax, the one that we take care off.
He then asks, “What moral right does the president then have to come and ask you and I to pay tax.”
Dr Nduom also believes taxes must not appear to be punitive to the point of discouraging businesses.
“Tax is not supposed to be punitive… but if you tax me, so much, that the business becomes uneconomical, not feasible, then what’s the point? That is what is going on,” he stated.
Dr Nduom also asked that government to do more to widen the taxpaying regime instead of taxing fewer citizens more to offset deficits.
“Someone has decided that we have some deficits, we have some debts to pay and so they decided that, what is easiest to tax is what they tax. We have to think broader so that we can bring other people into the tax paying regime so we can easy collect more money,” he said.
–
By Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana