Stop luxury car tax – Car dealer

The Akufo-Addo government must withdraw the luxury car tax it recently imposed on vehicles with an engine capacity of 3.0 and more, Mr Francis Owusu, CEO of Bestman Motors, has said.

According to him, the luxury car tax is a disincentive for people to buy cars, a situation, he said, will affect the business of car importers.

Implementation of the tax started on Wednesday, 1 August 2018 as announced by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

An annual levy will be imposed on vehicles with high engine capacity of 2950 cubic centimeters and more.

The levy is as follows:

2950cc – 3549cc GH¢1,000

3550cc – 4049cc GH¢1,500

Above 4049cc GH¢2,000

The GRA, in a statement, said the levy shall be paid on the registration of vehicles and subsequently on or before the annual renewal of the roadworthy certificate of such vehicles, with engine capacities as listed above.

The levy is also imposed on vehicles existing prior to the passage of the law with the above listed cubic centimeters.

Vehicles whose road worthiness certificates have already been renewed prior to the passage of this law in 2018, will pay the levy starting from their next renewal date in 2019.

Speaking on Ghana Yensom on Accra 100.5FM on Wednesday, Mr Owusu said: “The introduction of this tax is disappointing because firstly, car dealers were not informed before the introduction.



“Secondly, people are now going to decide not to patronise luxury cars because they cannot afford to pay the tax. That means we are being taken out of jobs and that is sad.

“This is not what we were promised, the president promised he was going to introduce policies that will help businesses but that is not what we are seeing now.”

He added: “We know President Akufo-Addo is a listening president, and, so, he will listen to our cry; we plead with him to hold on with the implementation of the tax.”