Corporate taxes to drop by end of year - Yofi Grant
The government is to announce new tax incentives by the close of the year to give more liquidity to private sector businesses to expand and create more jobs for the people.
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For instance, the government will announce a reduction in the corporate tax rate from 25 per cent to 20 per cent by the end of the year.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mr Yofi Grant, announced this when he addressed members of the American Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AMCHAM) Ghana in Accra last Friday.
“For this government, the growth of the private sector is our focus because we believe in what it can do to transform the economy and create the needed jobs for the people,” he said.
He said the position of the government on taxes was a good sign to attract more investors into the country and noted that all what was required to facilitate local and foreign investments into the country got to its optimum would be done.
Tax cuts
Among other economic incentives announced in the budget statement and economic policy of the government for the 2017 financial year was the reduction in taxes to ease the high cost of doing business in the country.
Taxes such as the 17.5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on financial services, domestic air tickets and imported medicines have been scrapped, while others such as the one per cent special import levy has been removed.
Also, the excise duty on petroleum, duty on imported spare parts, levies imposed on kayayei, levies imposed on religious institutions and the five per cent VAT on real estate have been abolished under the new government.
Meanwhile, the 17.5 per cent special petroleum tax rate has been reduced to 15 per cent, while the five per cent national electrification scheme levy has also been reduced to three per cent and the five per cent public lighting levy has been reduced to two per cent.
Those, Mr Grant said, were done to ensure the ease of doing business in the country.
He noted that more would be done to create the environment where the real potential of the private sector would be felt on the economy and in the lives of all.
In the offing
The GIPC boss said the government intended to announce new measures to attract more investors into the country in the manner that would see Ghana as the most attractive investment destination on the continent and in the world.
He said, for instance, that “we are thinking of giving 10-years tax break to companies that relocate their headquarters to the country.”
He explained that the motive was to ensure that such large manufacturing companies would come to the country to employ a chunk of the people while offering them the opportunity to learn and improve their skills.
Mr Grant said like countries such as Turkey, “we are also considering giving companies and individuals permanent work permit, granting citizenship, among other things, all in a way to expose our readiness to work with investors who intend to leverage the friendly business environment in the country.”
“We are serious about these because we know the value in them and we will work to make it succeed,” he said.
Subsequently, he called on members of the chamber to approach the GIPC with ideas to help change the way of doing business in the country to ensure a win-win situation for all.