The government’s proposals for tax waivers for enterprises under the One District One Factory project have been rebuffed by the Minority, according to Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin.
Afenyo-Markin supported the plan during his debate on the State of the Nation Address on Monday, March 11, 2024, in spite of resistance from the Minority, who expressed worries about possible corruption and misuse of public finances over the proposed $449 million tax exemptions.
He made it clear that tax waivers are not meant to be losses to the state, but rather to promote economic growth.
He clarified that tax exemptions serve as incentives to attract investments when he explained their logic.
He emphasized that these exemptions eventually result in tax credits, which ultimately help the state.
“Tax exemptions are used to attract investments, but the NDC is looking at them with a very myopic eye. Let me explain to you that when a government introduces tax exemptions, it is aimed at driving economic growth, and in effect, these tax exemptions become tax credits. It is not for free, so the NDC should not mislead Ghanaians.”
“When a company is investing in our country and we say you are not going to pay taxes for imports of materials and equipment, what it means is that when that is given, it eventually becomes a tax credit, and the state will gain, and this is what the NDC could not do and does not understand.”
