Ghanaians are going to face excruciating hardships - Ato Forson

Spokesperson of the Minority in Parliament, Cassiel Ato Forson, has warned that the 2023 budget will further exacerbate the plight of Ghanaians.

According to him, the introduction of the 2.5% increase in the Value Added Tax will push the cost of goods and services further up.

Addressing journalists after the presentation of the 2023 budget Ato Forson said: "Additional taxes only means that the people of Ghana are going to go through excruciating hardships going forward. Unfortunately, the expenditure cuts the Minister announced did not show us how they intend to cut government expenditure."

"The things he outlined there are nothing but empty. What we can see is that the government is shifting the adjustment programme to the ordinary Ghanaian where the taxpayer will be made to pay more," he said.

Government has announced an increment in Value Added Tax (VAT) by 2.5 percent for consumers of goods and services.

The move, according to government is expected to improve their domestic revenue measures while seeking to reach an IMF deal to restore macroeconomic stability.

"Mr. Speaker, we will undertake the following actions, initiatives, and interventions under the seven-point agenda. To aggressively mobilize domestic revenue, we will among others: Increase the VAT rate by 2.5 percent to directly support our roads and digitalization agenda; Fast-track the implementation of the Unified Property Rate Platform programme in 2023; and Review the E-Levy Act and more specifically, reduce the headline rate from 1.5% to one percent (1%) of the transaction value as well as the removal of the daily threshold," he said.

The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, made this known in parliament when he delivered the 2023 budget before lawmakers on Thursday, November 24, 2022.

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