CSOs urge GRA to intensify collection of ‘lesser-known taxes’

Tax Justice Coalition Ghana, a coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSO) has advised the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to intensify the collection of “lesser-known taxes’’ to enhance revenue generation in the country.

According to them, GRA needed to strengthen its collection capacity on taxes such as rent tax, capital gains tax and gift tax.

They further recommended that property rate must be considered as a national tax that would fall directly under the purview of the GRA as against the Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA).

“It must not be left to the MMDAs most of whom are not able to collect it, because of the constraints the Assemblies face. They do not have the capacity to collect the property rate. We think that it is a source of revenue to pursue,” said Mr Vitus Adaboo Azeem, Chairman of the Coalition.

He was speaking at a press conference on the analysis of the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy.
He also advised the government to review the 15 per cent increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) it introduced in the budget and scrap the electronic levy tax.

Mr Daniel Alimo, a local government and development consultant was however pessimistic about the prospect of adopting property rate as a national tax, insisting that it could deny the assemblies the timely resources to operate well.

He explained that the continuous delay in the release of the district assembly common fund sometimes compelled the assemblies to utilize the property rate for the effective administration of the assemblies.

Thus, the Assemblies must be empowered to collect property rates instead of making it a national tax.
‘’ Let us do a national valuation so that we all can know what we are paying instead of taking it away. Let us build their capacity (Assemblies) so that they can collect the taxes,’’ he added.