Government will not run at a loss if taxes on fuel are scrapped - COPEC

Increase in petroleum prices have brought hardships to Ghanaians

Transport operators want government to review taxes and levies

Cost of goods and services will reduce if government reduces fuel prices

Executive Secretary of Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah, has stated that government’s revenue will not be affected if it decides to respond to all the demands

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Commercial transport operators on December 6 embarked on a sit-down strike to re-echo their call for government to review the taxes and levies on petroleum products.

The taxes and levies include Energy Debt Recovery Levy, 49p; Road Fund Levy, 48p, Energy Fund Levy, 1p, Price Stabilisation and Recovery Levy 14p; Sanitation and Pollution Levy, 10p; Energy Sector Recovery Levy, 20p; Special Petroleum Tax, 46p, and Primary Distribution Margin, 11p.

“Per [the] calculation we have done in-house, if government was to give all the taxes that the trotro or the commercial transport operators are asking for, what government will lose generally will be something in the region of GHC800million. Is this revenue completely lost? The answer is no," he said in an interview on Joy News.

The strike has been suspended after an agreed stakeholder meeting was scheduled by the Presidency.

According to Duncan Amoah the calls by the drivers is in their rightful place adding that if government heeded the calls, cost of goods and services will respond positively.

“The calls by these transport operators is not a misplaced one. Every Ghanaian who buys petrol one way or the other has over the last few months had a course to complain about. The complaint has come in the form of what their pocket is recording for those who used to use about 200 cedis for the entire week today you need about 300, 320cedis in order to go about your week so there’s general hardship that these fuel prices increment has brought unto the people," he explained.

The COPEC boss added that “If government decided to suspend some of the taxes albeit momentarily for a period of a quarter, some of the high pump prices that we are seeing which has crossed 30cedis a gallon, could actually decelerate a bit so that food prices and cost of goods and services do not necessarily go up.”