Government urged to set up special tax commission on taxes

Kumasi, March 23, GNA - A businessman on Wednesday suggested to the government to consider setting up a special commission tasked with the sole responsibility of educating the citizenry on the benefit and need for them to voluntarily pay taxes.

Mr Opoku-Agyemang Prempeh, Executive Director of Lakayana Company, a revenue generation and debt collection agency, said such a move would help step up tax education.

Mr Prempeh was speaking at the close of a day's seminar on the relevance of taxes to development of the national economy organised by the Centre for Moral Education for the leadership of some clubs in Kumasi on Wednesday.

He said such a commission should draw its membership from professional bodies and recognised business organisations to enable a variety of expertise and experiences to be brought to bear on the tax education drive.

Mr Prempeh said even though there exist structures like the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), International Revenue Service (IRS) and the Value Added Tax (VAT), their focus was mainly on revenue collection and less on education.

He said lack of adequate education on the benefits to be derived from taxes has made a lot of people to look indifferent to honouring their tax obligations.

"Just as commissions have been introduced to cater for the media and national culture, so also should a commission be established for tax education in view of its unique role to the national economy," he said. Mr Prempeh also stressed the need for the government to involve private revenue collecting agencies in the collection of revenue to supplement the efforts of the CEPS, IRS and VAT.