Taxation is the way to go – Sheik Aremeyaw Shaibu

Spokesperson for Ghana’s National Chief Imam, Sheik Aremeyaw Shaibu, has said the only way for Ghana’s development is for citizens to understand that taxation is the way to go.

“Taxation is the way to go. I think we must show our commitment to taxation”, Sheik Aremeyaw Shaibu said this on GTV in a discussion monitored by MyNewsGh.com

Sheik Aremeyaw Shaib;s comments come in response to a statement issued by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) on its intention to expand the country's tax net.

“The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) reminds the general public of its Informant Award Scheme to reward individuals who provide information that lead to the recovery of taxes,” the statement said.

“The information includes disclosure of information on under declaration of taxes, smuggling or diversion of goods, under invoicing, non-issuance of VAT invoices, alteration and falsification of records, failure to register for tax purposes”, it added.

The Ghana Revenue Authority in the statement promised a reward to scheme for people who will help them with information leading to recovery of taxes.

However, speaking on GTV Sheik Aremeyaw categorically stated that “let’s Ghanaians be educated to know that tax is not a bad thing. We only have to expand the economy and get people doing some work so that they can be paying taxes”.

Speaking to the issue of accountability, he stressed that, “once we are encouraging taxation, strictly speaking we are encouraging accountability”

According to him, if people at the helm of affairs are not able to account for the tax people pay, they only discourage people from paying taxes.

“If you mismanage the resources, you discourage people from paying taxes”, he said.