ACEP outdoors tax compliance platform

The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has outdoored its digital platform, www.opentaxghana.com, which seeks to encourage tax compliance and control tax evasion in Ghana.

This is a partnership between ACEP and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), supported by DFID, to increase domestic tax revenue.

A statement signed by Benjamin Boakye, Executive Director of ACEP on November 3 said: “Ghana is in a tight fiscal situation that requires improved domestic tax revenue mobilization to reduce dependence on debts for development financing. Domestic revenue mobilization through taxation is very weak, evidenced by tax evasion schemes across many sectors of the Ghanaian economy, predominantly in the extractive sector as well as the general formal and informal sectors. For instance, according to the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), the state lost an estimated GHC 850 million in revenue in 2016 as a result of illegal trade in petroleum products in the downstream petroleum sector.

“There is a bigger challenge with tax collection from Ghana’s rather large informal sector. About 1.2 million people are recognized tax payers, out of which only 200,000 come from the informal sector. Addressing the challenges of tax revenue mobilization, particularly from the informal sector, is the function of the State through the tax authorities. However, the general public has a crucial role to play in this, particularly where the capacity of the State to detect complex tax evasion schemes is limited.

The “opentaxghana” platform

“It has become important for citizens to be fully engaged in supporting the laws and administrative processes that deal with the challenges of tax revenue mobilization in Ghana. The “opentaxghana” platform therefore seeks to promote voluntary compliance on the part of the public by providing tax education and tax law enforcement through the cooperation of the public.

“Through the platform, the gaps that allow tax evasion schemes to occur can be identified and addressed as it provides opportunity for the public to share experiences on practices that deprive the state of tax revenue. There is the whistle blower section that enables people to anonymously report tax evasion schemes.

“The whistle blower is already protected under the Whistle blower Act, 2006 (Act 720) and will be rewarded with 10% of tax revenues that the GRA will successfully recover following tax evasion reporting. The platform also improves transparency and accountability by providing information to citizens on government revenue trends and how these are utilized. The public can also determine their tax obligations with assistance from the platform.

“The reality that tax to GDP ratio was about 15.4% in 2016 is an indication that Ghanaians are demanding more from Government than they contribute. ACEP believes that as the public engage with the platform to support the GRA in fighting the problem of tax evasion to increase tax revenue mobilization, more resources will be made available to support the development Ghana very much needs. This will enhance the legitimacy of the public to demand more accountability from government.”