{"id":378533,"date":"2017-11-29T06:00:12","date_gmt":"2017-11-29T06:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=378533"},"modified":"2017-11-29T05:19:08","modified_gmt":"2017-11-29T05:19:08","slug":"free-shs-tax-will-burden-ghanaians-ablakwa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/free-shs-tax-will-burden-ghanaians-ablakwa\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Free SHS tax&#8217; will burden Ghanaians \u2013 Ablakwa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Deputy Minister of Education, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has stated that the proposal for the introduction of a new tax specifically to support the government\u2019s Free SHS programme will not be appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>He however admitted that, there is the need for a dedicated source of funding for the programme if it is to be successful.<\/p>\n<p>[contextly_sidebar id=&#8221;9TxPg4oz3D9unnwcisaKYrVxYNBFhnnI&#8221;]Mr. Ablakwa&#8217;s comment comes on the back of a suggestion by New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alex Afenyo Markin, that government could consider<span style=\"color: #800080;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/26\/afenyo-markin-pushes-for-free-shs-tax-on-ghanaians\/\"><strong> taxing Ghanaians<\/strong><\/a><\/span> in order to accrue funds to finance its flagship free Senior High School (SHS) policy.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, sustaining the policy was so crucial that risking the anger of Ghanaians by imposing a special tax to fund it will not be out of order.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe 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,\u201d the legislator has said.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on <strong>Eyewitness News on <\/strong>Tuesday<strong>,<\/strong>\u00a0Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said it would be unfortunate to tax Ghanaians who were already struggling with the numerous tax obligations they are required to meet.<\/p>\n<p>He argued that having a dedicated funding source for the programme should not necessarily result in the introduction of an additional tax.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe tax is certainly going to increase the already ongoing hardship which Ghanaians are complaining about generally. If you talk to the business community, they are talking about the cost of doing business now being very high, importers are complaining that duties are going through the roof\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Other sources<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The government had in the 2018 budget statement, announced that it would\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/16\/free-shs-govt-to-set-up-voluntary-education-support-fund\/\">set up a fund<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>to receive voluntary contributions from individuals to support the implementation of the free SHS programme and the educational sector as a whole.<\/p>\n<p>However, this plan has been criticized by the Minority who believe this is an indication that government\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/17\/budgetary-allocation-for-free-shs-woefully-inadequate-ablakwa\/\"><strong>does not have the funds<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to properly implement its much-touted programme.<\/p>\n<p>The Member of Parliament for the North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said the government cannot afford to rely on voluntary contributions to fund education, particularly free SHS, as projections for those funds may not materialize.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo country runs public education on just voluntary funds. What if the Fund is not considered attractive and you don\u2019t really get as much as you are expecting. We can\u2019t leave the destiny of our children\u2019s quality education to just a voluntary fund where we don\u2019t really know the projections. You cannot just depend on voluntary funds, you can\u2019t run education that way. You need a concrete plan and you need a well-defined funding source. It\u2019s clear that government is struggling to fund it and struggling to identify a clear funding source,\u201d he had said.<\/p>\n<p>The government has also been encouraged by ACEP to immediately <span style=\"color: #800080;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/25\/pass-mineral-revenue-act-to-support-free-shs-acep\/\"><strong>pass the Mineral Revenue Management Act<\/strong><\/a><\/span> to serve as an additional source of funding for the programme.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cACEP recommends that the government should pass the promised Mineral Revenue Management Act to create additional sources of funds from solid minerals to finance the free SHS policy,\u201d the policy think tank stated in a 10-page document analyzing the 2018 budget with regards to oil and gas,&#8221; the think-tank said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>By: Farida Yusif\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Deputy Minister of Education, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has stated that the proposal for the introduction of a new tax specifically to support the government\u2019s Free SHS programme will not be appropriate. He however admitted that, there is the need for a dedicated source of funding for the programme if it is to be successful. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":240313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,11],"tags":[253,3,903,5644],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&#039;Free SHS tax&#039; will burden Ghanaians \u2013 Ablakwa - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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