Remove VAT on electricity – ACEP to govt

The government must remove the Value Added Tax (VAT) on electricity as a way of relieving industries of the huge tax burden for them to expand and employ more people, Benjamin Boakye, Deputy Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), has said.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta will be presenting the national budget to parliament on Thursday, March 2. He is expected to announce, among other things, a reduction and removal of some taxes promised by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo during the 2016 electoral campaign.

Speaking in an interview on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen on Monday, February 27, Mr Boakye said: “We expect that the VAT on electricity will be removed, this will reduce the cost of doing business so industries expand and employ more people.

“Our position has been that if the government is going to reduce or remove some of the taxes on electricity then we need to start with the VAT on electricity and also on the debt recovery levy because substantially, what is contributing to the energy sector debt recovery levy is about 80 percent of taxes on petroleum products and so if you remove the VAT on the power, it will not affect the debt repayment so much.”