Government focused on reducing taxes in productive sectors - Ken Ofori Atta

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has reiterated that his outfit and essentially government is taking into consideration the reduction of taxes on productive sectors of the economy.

Mr. Ofori-Atta noted that it was important for government to divert focusing on the corporate income tax as the main source of generating revenue for the economy.

Speaking on the fringes of the G20 Compact with Africa Ministerial Meeting the Finance Minister said that there was the need to expand the tax network so as not to burden only one source of revenue.

“We are clear on the philosophy of taxes which is to reduce taxes to create economic space for people to operate, but I think a corollary of that is also being able to expand the tax network. And that is where the national ID becomes an important instrument. How do you then tap enough people to contribute so that you don’t have to focus on a corporate income tax as a main source of revenue…Our mission more would be to reduce the import of taxes on productive sectors of the economy.” He stated

The Compact with Africa (CWA) governments convened on September 6, 2017 in Ghana to express commitment and support to the Compact agenda; to provide a stocktaking of progress to date and to outline next steps including a peer learning framework to address common challenges over the next three years.

Compact with Africa countries which were represented included Ivory Coast, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal and the host nation, Ghana.

Additionally, other African countries which were inspired to join were Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia and Guinea. Also present were representatives of the World Bank, African Development Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Germany.