2024 Budget: IEA recommends 5 measures to streamline Ghana's tax system

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has outlined a number of recommendations that it believes the government must adopt and spelled out in the 2024 budget to provide short-term economic stability as well as long-term growth.

Director of Research, Dr John Kwakye sharing his view pointed out that the government of Ghana has a long challenge with mobilizing domestic revenue which therefore requires intensified measures to streamline the tax system.

“Revenue targets under the IMF ECF are still not sufficiently ambitious, even after the introduction of new taxes. New taxes or higher rates for existing taxes are really not the answer since the limited number of taxpayers are already overburdened. The solution lies in innovations in tax policy, plugging loopholes in the tax system, and strengthening tax administration, among others,” John Kwakye said in a statement issued on November 13, 2023, ahead of the 2024 budget presentation.

Specifically, the IEA wants the 2024 budget to focus on the following areas to streamline the tax system:

• Plug tax loopholes, including those relating to trade mis-invoicing, underexploited property taxes, transfer pricing, and money laundering;

• Reinforce tax compliance, including through the use of technology for assessments and payments;

• Check tax fraud and corruption through the use of technology and enhanced surveillance methods;

• Streamline import duties to promote imports through our ports and boost associated taxes, while easing the tax burden on importers that finds its way into local prices of imports;

• Abolish taxes generally regarded as of nuisance-value, outdated, multiple or posing health risks, such as E-Levy (multiple/nuisance-value), Covid Levy (outdated), Growth and Sustainability Levy (outdated), sanitary pad tax (potential health risk) and condom tax (potential health risk), etc.

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

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