Finance Ministry to present new bill on tax to Parliament
A bill that would allow the publication of names of persons who fail to honour their tax obligations in the Gazette and other media is to be presented to Parliament.
Advertisement
The bill, known as the Revenue Administration Bill, will also allow the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to publish the names of persons convicted of an offence under a tax law.
The Tax Policy Advisor at the Ministry of Finance, Dr Edward Larbi-Siaw, made this known at the 2015 awards ceremony for staff of the GRA in Accra.
He said the ministry was set to present the bill to Parliament for consideration and passage into a law.
Features of bill
Dr Larbi-Siaw said the new law would ensure tax compliance and improve revenue administration as all the common administrative provisions in the previous tax laws had been incorporated into the bill to strengthen the revenue institution.
To facilitate the implementation and optimisation of revenue collection, he said, the bill would ensure increased efficiency in the collection of tax, reduce the obstacles to compliance and improve tax administration.
Additionally, Dr Larbi-Siaw said “the bill will ensure the maintenance of the taxpayer and identification number and tax clearance certificate for the purpose of identifying taxpayer and promoting tax compliance.”
He debunked concerns that tax rates in Ghana were high, stating that the nation’s tax rates were among the lowest in Africa.
Before handing over the awards to some of the staff members who had distinguished themselves in the performance of their duties, Dr Larbi-Siaw commended the workers of GRA for exceeding their revenue target for 2015.
He said the authority exceeded its revenue target by 2.9 per cent.
Awardees
Earlier in a welcome address, the Commissioner-General of GRA, Mr George Blankson, appealed to the staff to help mobilise and collect taxes to meet the 2016 revenue target, which is pegged at GH¢28.8 billion.
He said the key element in exceeding the 2015 revenue collection by GH¢630 million was the human resource of the GRA.
Mr Blankson congratulated the award winners and asked them to work harder than before to enhance performance and productivity.
In all, 34 personnel were rewarded for their meritorious services and each of them was presented with a citation medal, a 32-inch flat screen television set and a fridge.