The Public Services Workers Union (PSWU) has called on government to stop granting tax exemptions to foreign companies who come to exploit the country to the detriment of Ghanaians.
According to the Union, this act by the foreigners, if not stopped, will foster mistrust among Ghanaians who will avoid the payment of taxes.
General Secretary of PSWU made the call at the Second Quadrennial Delegates Conference between the GRA and PSWU in Accra on June 21, 2024.
“We are ready as a country to grant tax exemptions to foreign goods that are coming into this country, we give very low and considerate taxes to foreign companies that are mining our natural resources, then we end up putting a lot of taxes on consumables.”
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“Look at the fuel taxes and even recently, it was going to be compounded by taxes on our electricity only for our vigilance and resistance to that. When you go to the market now everything is being taxed. We have been taxed to the extent that even the air we breathe will soon be taxed”.
“Benevolent groups and organisations have donated medicines for critical illnesses and they have been lying at the port and we cannot give tax exemptions for those ones to come in, but we are ready to give tax exemptions to foreign goods and other things,” he lamented.
The Director in Charge of Revenue and Policy Division at the Ministry of Finance, George Swanzy Winful said, the Ministry has not granted tax exemptions to foreigners to exploit the contract.
He promised that tax exemptions will be granted to foreign partners such as the Global Fund to be able to clear drug supplies at the port.
“I must say we have been able to clear a lot of containers and attention is still on to clear outstanding medical supplies,” he assured.
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By Daniel Opoku