{"id":377582,"date":"2017-11-26T10:50:19","date_gmt":"2017-11-26T10:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=377582"},"modified":"2017-11-26T11:02:56","modified_gmt":"2017-11-26T11:02:56","slug":"afenyo-markin-pushes-for-free-shs-tax-on-ghanaians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/afenyo-markin-pushes-for-free-shs-tax-on-ghanaians\/","title":{"rendered":"Afenyo-Markin pushes for ‘Free SHS Tax’ on Ghanaians"},"content":{"rendered":"
New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alex Afenyo Markin, has said that government could consider taxing Ghanaians in order to accrue funds to finance its flagship free Senior High School (SHS) policy.<\/p>\n
According to him, sustaining the policy was so crucial that risking the ire of Ghanaians by imposing a special tax to fund it will not be out of order.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”94OPWudfATaQ8AZljgR0K0DYIwX2YfQW”]”We want to sustain the policy. The policy is at a cost to the state. If it means that at a point, some taxation should be imposed to sustain it, it wouldn\u2019t be far-fetched. If I get any opportunity in government circles, I will suggest it,” the legislator said on Eyewitness News<\/strong> on Friday.<\/p>\n The implementation of the Free SHS policy has come under fire from members of the opposition who have pointed at the challenges faced by the government as a sign that the programme was ill-fated.<\/p>\n A former Deputy Education Minister and NDC MO for North Tongu, said the amount allocated for the policy in the 2018 budget, is woefully inadequate.<\/p>\n But Afenyo Markin believes that, with more investment needed in providing infrastructure for the schools across the country, funds accrued from a special tax for the Free SHS policy could complement the sector’s budgetary allocation.<\/p>\n “The focus now should be expanding infrastructure and making facilities available. And even if it means government taking the bold step to tax Ghanaians for the purpose of financing or making sufficient resources available for the sustenance of the Free SHS, that bold decision should be taken,” he said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ‘Pleased with voluntary fund’<\/strong><\/p>\n The government announced that it would\u00a0set up a fund<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>to receive voluntary contributions from individuals to support the implementation of the free SHS programme and the educational sector as a whole.<\/p>\n