The Bills are the 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.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Yzaw9SqNGCKTp0b4oJ0Z2kicqJvqbbRd”]The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, expressed optimism that the cuts would aid the government’s goal to stimulate economic growth.

“We are really excited that the signal is being given that these taxes need to be repealed so that the general welfare of people will be increased and that there will be tax reliefs,” he said.

The Finance Minister told Citi News he was grateful for the overwhelming approval from Parliament, stating that “we expect to meet the targets that we have, and we look forward to a good year.”

The approval of the 2017 budget itself was not that smooth, following protests from the Minority Members of Parliament.

According to the Minority, the House lacked the quorum at the time of the budget approval. In a Citi News interview, the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, accused the Speaker of Parliament, Mike Ocquaye of exhibiting some bias in the matter.

The 2017 budget statement heralded the review and abolishing of key taxes which affect businesses in the aviation, finance and real estate industries.

Below is the list of taxes that have been abolished and reviewed by the government.

Abolished

– 1 percent Special Import Levy;

– 17.5 percent VAT/NHIL on financial services;

– 17.5 percent VAT/NHIL on selected imported medicines, that are not produced locally;

– Initiate steps to remove import duties on raw materials and machinery for production within the context of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) Protocol;

– 17.5 percent VAT/NHIL on domestic airline tickets;

– 5 percent VAT/NHIL on Real Estate sales;

– Excise duty on petroleum;

– Special petroleum tax rate from 17.5 percent to 15 percent;

– Duty on the importation of spare parts;

– Levies imposed on kayayei by local authorities;

– Taxation, the gains from realisation of securities listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange or publicly held securities approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC);

Reviewed

– Reduce National Electrification Scheme Levy from 5 percent to 3 percent;

– Reduce Public Lighting Levy from 5 percent to 2 percent;

– Replace the 17.5 VAT/NHIL rate with a flat rate of 3 percent for traders; and

– Implement tax credits and other incentives for businesses that hire young graduates.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to the Suame MP, the revisiew or abolition of over ten taxes in the 2017 budget, will only take effect after approval from Parliament.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, he said it was imperative Parliament approved the taxes before the budget is even approved.

“The budget is a very business-like matter before us and we’ll have to apply critical thinking and analysis to it. Once we are through with it, we also may need to deal with a lot of money Bills because the Finance Minister related to a lot of taxes; some of them to abolished, some to be reconfigured and so on and so forth.”

“These money bills, we may have to approve off before the appropiriation bill is concluded because they will have a direct impact on the budget, the outturns and the outcomes of the budget,” the Majority Leader explained further.

Anytime from today [Wednesday], Mr. Mensah Bonsu added, the money bills will start coming to Parliament for the relevant referrals to be made.

RTI Bill likely to come before House in May

Mr. Mensah-Bonsu also stated that, the Right to Information Bill, is likely to be re-laid before Parliament for the process of approval when the second meeting of the house begins in May.

“Because of the considerations that went into it, I guess the new government would have to factor in those considerations before being re-laid in this new parliament. It is my anticipation that, the next meeting which likely will be mid-May, that Bill may have a resurrection in the Parliament of Ghana.”

The Right to Information Bill was drafted in 1999 and reviewed in 2003, 2005 and 2007.

The first attempt at enacting the law on the right to information was made when the Bill was presented to Parliament on February 5, 2010.

The 6^th Parliament of the 4^th Republic, failed to pass the Right to Information Bill which has been on the Floor of Parliament since 2013.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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He explained that, government would be setting a precedent that will be at odds with the New Patriotic Party government’s efforts at decentralization, by allowing Parliament to quash bye-laws enacted at the local level.

[contextly_sidebar id=”1PCwNXeu7HWD9fLy59uyZcpYkAytJceG”]In Accra, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) levied kayayei 50 pesewas for operating in major markets in the metropolis, but the Akufo-Addo government, via its maiden budget, abolished this, and other tolls imposed on the head porters who make a living by carting goods on their heads for customers in markets.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Avedzi noted that, “by this act, it means that whatever is done at the district level. We can use the power of parliament to quash it. Are we decentralizing the power to the people or we are re-centralizing the power?”

He suggested that, local government should be allowed to scrap laws it had enacted instead of being sidestepped by the central government.

“This is a resolution of the local government, a resolution of the AMA or the KMA. It is for them to go back and reverse it. If you want them to reverse it, go and tell them that, go and do your resolution and remove it. Don’t go and do a public announcement in Parliament saying you have abolished the tax,” Mr. Avedzi insisted.

Government right to intervene

The New Patriotic Party (NPP)  Member of Parliament for Obuasi West Constituency, Kwaku Kwarteng, however, said government was well within its right to intervene if it felt local assemblies were imposing strenuous levies.

“The suggestion that the local assemblies can make any decision and charge levies and central government is helpless in the context of the current legal arrangement, is false,” he asserted in a retort to Mr. Avedzi.

“Government has a responsibility to look at the circumstances of every section of society and make specific directives in respect of their welfare. We are not saying that nobody should pay these levies. In respect of a particular kind of business, we are saying that they should not.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Scrapping ‘kayayei’ toll undermines local gov’t – Avedzi appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.