Dr. Alex Ampabeng, an analyst for fiscal policy at OXFAM Ghana, has urged the government to better account for earmarked taxes if it wants to increase tax compliance.
Dr. Ampabeng stated on The Big Issue that “government accountability around taxation is very weak and that itself does not enhance compliance.”
Fast-moving goods merchants have been closing their doors this past week in protest of the implementation and design of the Value Added Tax.
Due to the failure of 13 shopping centres to connect their systems to an E-VAT Invoicing system that will certify all invoices and provide real-time reporting of sales, the Ghana Revenue Authority was also forced to close the stores.
But Dr. Ampabeng hinted that these problems with compliance were brought on by a lack of trust in the government.
Also read: GRA closes China Mall branches due to tax compliance issues
As an illustration of a tax that the government has not properly accounted for, he used the sanitation levy.
“Can we really take a seat and consider what the government did with those funds? Compliance will suffer if you are unable to account. We cannot discuss tax payments without addressing the purpose of the collected revenue.
“When people begin to notice this, they will abide by it. People want to know that the taxes they pay are being used for something, he said.
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