Photographers in Wa call for fairness in payment of taxes

Wa, Oct. 12, GNA - The Upper West Photographers' Association has called on Wa Municipal Assembly and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to design strategies to ensure fairness in the payment of taxes among photographers in the region.

Addressing a meeting with officials of the assembly and IRS at Wa, Mr Vincent Adams, President of the association, said the inability of the two institutions to collect fees and taxes through the association had contributed to the non-payment of fees and taxes by photographers. He noted that tax defaulters charged very low for their services that affected their operations making it difficult for them to meet their tax obligations.

The meeting organized by the association as part of its advocacy project to eliminate unprofessional photographers from the industry was sponsored by Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund. Mr Lawrence Baba Bugri, Acting Upper West Regional Director of IRS noted with concern that majority of photographers in the region were not paying taxes.

He said most of them had no established business premises where they could be located for assessment.

Mr Bugri said these photographers were classified as hawkers and ought to pay quarterly tax of 50,000 cedis each for those in the urban centres and 30,000 cedis for photographers in rural communities. He advised the association to endeavour to bring all photographers under its umbrella to enable IRS collect taxes through it instead of individuals.