Terkper’s tax appetite insatiable – PAC Chair

Finance Minister Seth Terkper is on a taxing spree because government needs money to pay high interests accrued on huge loans contracted, Kweku Agyemang-Manu, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has observed.

According to him, government is overburdening Ghanaians with taxes due to the stress brought to bear on the national kitty through loan repayments.

Mr Agyemang-Manu, who is also the Member of Parliament for Dormaa Central constituency, was speaking in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom on Accra 100.9 FM on Thursday June 2, in connection with the Finance Minister’s announcement that government was set to introduce a new tax law that would target earnings on pension investments.

In spite of the public outcry, especially from pensioners against this tax, the PAC chair seemed not to be surprised with its introduction because, according to him, government has been scavenging for more avenues to tax Ghanaians.

“Any small space they [government] get, they want to tax Ghanaians because they are looking for money for the monthly repayment of interests and debts,” he said, adding: “Ghanaian should be prepared for more taxes.”

Mr Agyemang-Manu, however, noted that government will need to submit documents on the new tax to parliament for approval before implementation.

“We haven’t received any documents about that yet; if government wants to tax pensioners, they will need to bring it to parliament for us to debate it,” he said.