Tax incentives for showbiz: High tax systems are crippling the movie industry - Ola Michael laments

Ghanaian movie producer and entertainment critic, Ola Michael, has joined calls for the government to provide tax incentives to both foreign and local film productions that want to shoot in Ghana.

According to him, this would boost the creative arts industry and the economy as a whole.

In an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb Entertainment’s Isaac Dadzie, Ola Michael compared the situation in Ghana to other countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Nigeria, where he said film producers are given tax rebates, tax relief, and tax holidays to encourage them to shoot in those locations.

However, film producers in Ghana face a lot of challenges and frustrations, such as high taxes, insurance, and security issues.

“Mayors in those countries are craving for production houses to come to their cities to shoot films, and they are dealing with tax incentives. They are doing all that to just encourage people to come and shoot. But in our case, we are doing everything to frustrate them from coming to shoot,” he lamented.

He said that some foreign film stars would want to come and shoot in Ghana, but they are deterred by the tax issues and the blockade.

Thus, they would rather go to Nigeria, where they are given tax rebates and other incentives.

“Bruce Willis will want to come and shoot in Ghana. But he checks the tax issues and the blockade, and it's like, 'Okay, I can't do it in Ghana, but the Nigerians are giving me tax rebates and all that. Why don't I go and do it in Nigeria? " he explained.

Ola Michael further argued that the taxes that the government is taking from the equipment are not worth it because the foreign film producers would also pay taxes on other things, such as food, wages, and tickets.

He called for the government to rather give tax rebates to attract them to come and shoot in Ghana.

This, according to him, would benefit the Ghanaian creative arts industry as well as the economy, as the foreign film producers would bring in foreign currency, employ Ghanaians, and promote Ghana to the world.

“If we provide tax rebates, if we provide tax holidays for some productions and some equipment, I'm sure that people will be encouraged to come in. Well, if not, if you want to tax everything, then we should forget about people coming to shoot,” he argued.

Ola Michael said that this would require a proper framework and law to regulate the film industry and ensure that things are done right.

He lamented that the system in Ghana is crippling the creative arts industry and that the government is not doing enough to support it.

He called for the government to "not just talk but act" to make Ghana a more attractive destination for film production.

“There are also taxes on wages. All the wages that the crew is taking, you take some money from them. So that money you were expecting from the equipment, you are getting it back in another form.

“But you have the cinemas struggling to get people into the cinema. The few people that get in, GRA are at the entrance, taking tax from the tickets.

So, you see, it's like you want to come out and do something, but the system is also making sure you don't come out. The system is crippling you. They’ll also sit back and say you are not doing much,” he lamented.

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