The Minister for Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam has assured that the government will not overburden Ghanaians with the payment of more taxes.
According to him, the government would rather “use the hard way” to collect revenue from those who have not been paying appropriate taxes, as well as those who have been evading taxes in the country.
The finance minister disclosed this during a press briefing during the weekend after Ghana reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the country’s Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement.
Dr Amin Adam noted that the suspension of the 15 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on electricity consumption and GHS 100 annual levy on owners of petrol and diesel vehicles had created a GHS 1.8 billion revenue gap.
He indicated the urgency to increase revenue in line with the implementation of the US$3 billion loan support program but added that the government was also being careful not to overburden the few Ghanaian taxpayers.
The minister said the government as such would be resolute in ensuring the effective implementation of revenue generation mechanisms as announced in both the 2023 and 2024 budgets which have so far lacked effective implementation.
According to Dr. Amin Adam, the government is pursuing reforms within the tax administration to ensure that proper assessments are done, and people are made to pay the appropriate taxes in the easiest and fastest ways possible.
He added that aggressive revenue mobilization would not be an ideal situation for the country, therefore, there would be a focus on expenditure rationalization too.
