Seth Terkper empathizes with Ghanaians over 'punitive' taxes imposition

Seth Terkper, a former Finance Minister of Ghana, has opined that the existing tax framework in the country is the harshest and most stringent in its history.

The government of the New Patriotic Party has been accused by the National Democratic Congress of implementing more than 50 new taxes since ascending to power.

There has been a lot of public outcry due to

Read full article.the ongoing implementation of taxes.

Ghanaians have been hit with two new taxes recently - the Emissions levy and the Value Added Tax (VAT) on residential electricity usage.

“I think we are seeing the worst of the tax system… It is the most punitive and worst tax structure that we have had. And as with every tax that is punitive, you will end up not collecting, or generating as much revenue as possible,” he stated on Citi News.

“But more importantly, when you begin to introduce punitive taxes, taxpayers find ways and means of evading and avoiding the tax. So if you have a simplified tax regime it is better and compliance increases. And the evidence is that if you look at our tax-to-GDP ratio well until recently as GRA is claiming, the highest point at which revenue was collected was 2015 per the percentage of GDP, not nominal terms,” he added.