2021 budget is a sad commentary on the economy - ICU

The Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU) says the introduction of several new taxes during the 2021 budget presentation is a sad commentary on the economy.

The Union is of the view that, the move will aggravate the already precarious economic status of workers and the ordinary Ghanaian considering the fact that the emergence of COVID-19 has led to job losses.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Ashanti regional quadrennial delegates conference of ICU, Acting General Secretary Morgan Ayawine noted “tax is not something the citizenry can avoid but our concern has to do with the number of taxes introduced at a time”

The government through the 2021 budget has introduced four new levies and increased other existing ones.

The new levies include COVID-19 health levy, petroleum levy, sanitation and pollution levy as well as financial sector clean-up levy.

Government is also seeking an upward review of some existing levies.

Mr Ayawine questioned whether it is realistic for government to introduce sweeping taxes at a time when COVID-19 has affected and still affecting Ghanaian workers.

“One would have thought that we should be working to reduce the number of taxes in the country to bring relief to the citizenry but not to overburden us with new taxes”, he said.

Several groups and individuals have also described as untimely and insensitive the introduction of the new taxes but government insists it is to allow it to continue to provide more reliefs to Ghanaians amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.