Reduce taxes on costs of building materials – GREDA boss

The Executive Secretary of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA), Mr. Samuel Amegayibor, has called on government to reduce taxes on the costs of building materials.

Speaking on the Accommodation Watch Series on Class 91.3 FM's flagship program 505, Mr. Amegayibor stressed that such a move will help cushion businesses in the building sector and by so doing, bring down the high costs of building in the country.

“You may be aware that generally, prices of materials (and) inputs that we use for our buildings have soared very high due to the Dollar-Cedi exchange rate. It's becoming unbearable,” he indicated.

“A lot can be done. It is difficult when you have a situation where your price is being controlled from the outside but there's a lot (that) we can do (from the inside).”

He continued: “If you're bringing a product from outside and the tax component of it, is a percentage of the product price, any time the tax component goes up, government indirectly benefits from the taxes.

“If we cannot do anything about the price that is coming from outside, something can be done from the tax component which is (emanating) from the inside.”

“It seem government does not want to do anything about it. But that is where I think something can be done, to atleast, cushion us. Take taxes off, cut taxes or completely suspend taxes of certain products, to make the materials affordable for (the) industry to continue to survive,” he stressed.

The Accommodation Watch Series on 505, which begun on Monday, August 29th and concludes on Friday, September 2nd, 2022, takes a critical look at issues of housing in the country, including renting and home ownership, how affordable they are, the challenges involved in getting ones building project on course, sources of funding for same, as well as solicit for policy recommendations from industry players to enable the country deal with the ever increasing housing deficit it is bedeviled with.