The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta has presented four Bills to parliament in relation to the proposed tax cuts in the 2017 budget.
The bills are Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, Special Petroleum Tax (Amendment) Bill, Special Import (Amendment) Bill and Customs and Excise (Petroleum Taxes and the Petroleum Related Levies (Repeal) Bill.
The Finance Minister said the 2017 budget is seekking to abolish and review some 12 key taxes in the aviation, finance and real estate industries; all aimed at providing a friendly environment for businesses in the country.
The proposed tax cuts by the minister can only take effect after it has received parliamentary approval through amendments of the existing Bills.
Following the announcements of the various tax cuts by Mr. Ken Ofori Atta during his presentation of the 2017 budget statement in Parliament, the minority in the House have raised concerns about the negative implications the move will have on the economy.
They among other things said the scrapping of taxes on the importation of vehicle spare parts will result in dumping.
The Deputy minority leader and spokesperson on finance, James Klutse Avedzi told Citi News in an interview that government will not be able to meet its economy targets after the tax cuts.
According to him, those taxes are sources of government revenue that needed to be maintined to generate money to fund some of the government’s ambitious projects and reducing them will only mean a reduction in government revenue.
Meanwhile, the Speaker who received the bills has subsequently referred them to the finance committee.
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By: Duke Mensah Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana