The National Organiser of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Henry Nana Boakye who goes by the moniker Nana B has registered his displeasure with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) over the strategy employed to mobilise revenue in Ashanti Region’s capital, Kumasi.
Mr. Boakye said the body mandated to collect taxes by stationing its officers at shops, restaurants, and other businesses to record sales of products for tax purposes is “weak and lame.”
To him, this strategy would have been justified if there is ample evidence that businesses in Kumasi are evading taxes or under-declaring their taxes.
Writing on his official Facebook page on Tuesday, Nana B, who hails from the region, asserted that the “‘wide-spread approach’ of stationing revenue officers at business is counterproductive, oppressive, repressive and suppressive.”
“We are not in normal times – businesses and individuals are bearing the brunt of the twin global crisis and their concomitant economic agony – and the least expected from GRA is to police traders whom no tax evasion findings have been made against,” he added on his post made on Tuesday, October 11, 2022.
“In this day of technology,” Nana B said “GRA should adopt welcoming and pleasant ways of revenue collections strategy that engenders revenue assurance. This strategy is weak and lame since Revenue Officers stationed at these shops and businesses can be compromised to aid owners to evade or under-declare their taxes.”
He continued, “GRA should rather strive to reduce human contact in revenue collection and employ technological solutions to take taxes from businesses.”
The NPP National Organiser also ripped the communication department of the Ghana Revenue Authority apart, tagging it “dead.”
“Paying taxes is not a pleasant thing and for that matter, responsive PR approach must be adopted to educate the tax-paying population of their programmes and activities,” Nana B averred.
By: Bernard Ralph Adams | Metrotvonline.com | Ghana