Businesses at Tema, Takoradi ports at risk due to GRA, Customs taskforce - TAGG

The Trades Advocacy Group Ghana, (TAGG) has asked the government to stop officials of the Ghana Revenue Authority from allegedly extorting money from their members.

According to the group, the institution of a task force, to clamp down on importers who falsify documents to evade taxes is not helping businesses but instead leading to loss of capital.

Speaking at a press briefing on September 18, 2023, the General Secretary of TAGG, Emmanuel Nana Opoku Acheampong said: “Why is the GRA office now deploring various forms of intimidation and threat-making in the name of raising tax and duty revenue for the government while simultaneously imposing and depriving traders of their capital to satisfy its demands given that traders haven't violently resisted authorities.”

He added that an assessment of the tenure of the GRA Commissioner has shown that the impact of various decisions taken has had more negative impact than positive on traders.

Nana Opoku Acheampong said: “It is beyond belief to evaluate the current leadership of the GRA Commissioner General, the Commissioner Customs division, and the Domestic Tax Commissioner given the numerous policy interventions during their term of office, both good and bad, and the bad impact on traders is more extreme within the final four years of this government. In the case of the Ghanaian trading community.”

The agitations of the group have stemmed from the GRA’s recent resolve to institute task forces to ensure that importers do not collude with companies to falsify trade documents with the aim of evading taxes.

The business community has therefore not received the news with open arms since they believe the officials will use this as a platform for extortion.

SSD/MA

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