Telcos pay GH¢6 billion taxes to government in 2022 - Chamber of Telecommu­nications

Players in the telecommunications industry have paid GH¢6.07 billion in taxes and other payments to gov­ernment for the year 2022.

The amount is over 50 percent increment of the GH¢4.02 billion paid in 2021.

The contributing telcos are AT, MTN, Vodafone, ATC, Helios, Comsys, CSquared, Ericsson, and Huawei.

This was made known by the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommu­nications (GCT), Dr Kenneth Ash­igbey, at the launch of the 2022 Mobile Industry Transparency Initiative report held on Tuesday, November 21, 2023 in Accra.

According to Dr Ashigbey, the industry’s contribution constitutes approximately 8.02 per cent of the government’s 2022 tax reve­nue of GH¢75.71 billion per the 2022 annual report of the Ghana Revenue Authority.

The breakdown of tax contri­butions included Corporate In­come Tax (CIT), GH¢1.27 billion, representing 42.6 per cent, valued added tax, GH¢ 923 million, and withholding tax GH¢697 million.

The rest are communication service tax, GH¢511.6 million and GETFund, NHIS and COVID-19 levies, GH¢768 million amongst others.

On the controversial electronic transfer levy (E-Levy), the Cham­ber said there was still the need for further revision in the E-levy rate to align it to government’s digital drive by default strategy.

“Our recommendation to the Ministry of Finance is to consider reducing the levy on transfer to 0.5 per cent and introduce a 0.5 per cent levy on cash-outs among other proposals,” the GCT said.

The chamber emphasised the vital role of the telecommunica­tions industry in socio-economic development and said it shouldn’t be taxed as other industries like alcohol and tobacco industries.

Dr Ashigbey said the amount paid to government constituted 46.31 per cent of its revenue for the year; down from 47.69 per cent t in 2021, indicating an unsustainable burden that needs addressing.

Despite contributing a signifi­cant 2.27 per cent to the country’s Non-Oil GDP, Chamber noted that the telecom industry bears a “disproportionate tax burden”, contributing 7.28 per cent of government’s tax revenue.

“This inequitable differential militates against government’s effort to transform the nation’s economy and urged that the in­dustry is viewed as partner rather than a pot of tax because elevated taxation levels have significantly impacted the industry.”

It was important, he said, that the industry was viewed as a pivotal force driving the develop­ment of other sectors including agriculture, education, health care, manufacturing, government, rath­er than to be considered as the “cash-cow” that is overly taxed.