ISSER: Introduce agriculture income and land taxation systems

Accra, Nov. 17, GNA - The Director of Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) has called on government to expand the country's tax base by introducing Agriculture Income and Land taxations to generate revenue.

Professor Ernest Aryeetey, Director of ISSER, said the expansion of the tax base in a manner that does not adversely affect the poorest farmer or owner of a land would be a prudent way of mobilising domestic resources for development.

He was speaking on Tuesday at the opening session of a two-day workshop organised by ISSER to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Institute in Accra.

The workshop, which is on the theme: "Domestic Resource Mobilisation for Inclusive Development," is to provide the platform where existing research works and projects on the issue of domestic resource mobilisation, with special reference to Ghana, would be debated by researchers.

Prof. Aryeetey said the land taxation system had the potential of raking in enough revenue for African countries due to the fact that almost all ordinary citizens on the continent owned land with the exception of Ethiopia where government was the sole owner of lands.

He said there was the need for formulators of the law to be innovative in thinking how Ghana could turn lands to useful income-earning assets for the country's development.

"Many Ghanaians would buy lands and allow it to lie fallow thus reducing its value. But with effective land taxation system in the country, people would be more innovative and think about what to do with the land to generate more revenue for them instead of allowing it to lie unattended to," he said.

Prof Aryeetey said there was the need for African governments to harness the economic potential of domestic resource mobilisation for socio-economic development and to reduce over-reliance on foreign aid, especially in the wake of global economic recession with its resultant foreign remittance being reduced.

ISSER was established by the University of Ghana in 1962 as the Institute of Statistics, to provide a programme for teaching and research in statistics, with particular reference to the methodology, collection and analysis of official statistics. It was meant to advise interested bodies on statistical design, analysis and computer programming.

Later the scope of the Institute was expanded to include fundamental and applied research in the social sciences, to establish the basic data needed for effective development and modernisation, for the benefit of the nation as a whole.

It is in line with this vision that the Institute was converted in 1969 into the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER).