Accra, April 12, GNA - Government on Wednesday said the removal of the penalty component of the price of vehicles forfeited to the State before disposing off it was intended to make them more affordable to low income earners.
Consequently, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning is working out ways of facilitating the purchase of those vehicles in the less urban communities and in the lower income brackets. Mr Kwadwo Baah Wiredu said this when he addressed the Meet-The Press series in Accra.
He said President John Agyekum Kufuor recently gave his assent to a legislation abolishing the penalty component of the price at which vehicles forfeited to the State were disposed off.
He explained that previously the reserve price at which forfeited vehicles were disposed off included the duties and taxes plus other penalties chargeable on the vehicle.
Mr Baah Wiredu said such efforts to help the less privileged sections of the citizenry came as a loss of revenue to Government, therefore, "we have to improve the nation's revenue mobilization and cost control systems to keep the momentum of our development programmes. "In line with this, he said the Ministry is currently building the capacity of revenue collection agencies and that of the Controller and Accountant General's Department", saying he had confidence in the institution to deliver the expected improvements in revenue mobilization.
Mr Baah-Wiredu said the Ministry had taken note of substantial debts from financial improprieties in some public and private institutions and described them as fallouts of a sophisticated network of shady transactions that had cost some of the nations state-owned financial institutions considerable loss.
He said the Government and the Ministry had taken note of those improper actions and inactions and would ensure that steps were taken to unveil the perpetrators behind the improprieties and the law applied accordingly.
"Government would also work to ensure that the smooth operations of the hospitality industries affected remain undisturbed," Mr Baah Wiredu said. 12 April 06
