Too many scandals - Minister laments

The Minister of Finance, Yaw Osafo Marfo has expressed dissatisfaction about the spates of scandals and professional misconduct in the administration of tax.

“Almost invariably a few unscrupulous officials, through greed and the quest for personal gains are determined to bring institutions into disrepute,” he stated. The Minister expressed the concern in s speech read on his behalf at the opening of a three-day seminar for the management of the IRS in Accra.

The seminar which is being attended by the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioners, Chief Inspectors and District Heads of IRS nationwide, is to enable them to take stock of their performance of the past year and strategise for the current year.

Osafo Maafo noted that development such as those witnessed over the past year only served to tarnish the image of the profession and adversely affected public confidence in the administration of tax in this country.

He explained that the vital role of the IRS and other revenue collecting agencies in the economy could only be played with their personal exhibit a high level of professionalism and integrity. “The actions of tax collectors should be along professional lines based on dedication and excellence,” he said.

The Minister asked tax collectors to work together to serve the interests of the economy, taxpayers, profession and their own conscience and integrity. He said despite the better performance by all the major sources last year, total receipts fell short of the target of 16,359.7bn cedis by 912.6bn cedis.

That, Osafo Maafo said, was due to substantial shortfalls in expected foreign inflows. He said that given that a substantial portion of the country’s budgetary requirement was funded from donor sources, such shortfalls resulted in government borrowing from domestic sources.