2024 Budget: TAAG calls for removal of COVID-19 Levy, network service charges

The Traders Advocacy Group Ghana (TAGG) has called on the government to scrap what they describe as unnecessary taxes, as it presents the 2024 budget on November 15, 2023.

The group argues that the COVID-19 Levy imposed on goods and services and network service charge imposed at the ports must be scrapped by the government.

President of the group, David Kojo Amoateng, explained that removing these taxes will further cushion traders, citizens and the business community, amid the current hardships in the country.

“How can you charge me a network service charge!? the network charge is something that has to go,” he advocated.

For the COVID-19 Levy, the TAGG president proposed that the government should either scrap the tax measure or rename it to tackle other critical areas such as health [kidney disease treatment or cancer].

“We from the trading sector expect that even if the COVID levy will not go, maybe there will even change the name to dialysis, kidney or cancer,” he said on Accra-based Citi TV’s Point of View on November 13, 2023.

The call by TAAG would not be the first by a trade body, as others have advocated for the removal of taxes, particularly the COVID-19 Levy, with many believing the tax has outlived its purpose.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, is expected to present the 2024 budget to parliament on Wednesday, November 15, 2023.

MA/AE

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