Tax concessions shouldn’t be your focus – Analyst to government

Financial Accountant and Tax Analyst, Julius Gyimah, has advised the government to focus on implementing policies to raise revenue to revive the economy.

He explained Ghana and the world at large have fallen on hard times warning the government against considering tax concessions.

According to him, the history of Ghana’s economic outlook as of 2017 was positive with the country being touted as one of the world’s growing economies. Ghana was averagely growing at a rate of 7 percent per annum until the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2019, “and everything started declining.”

With the pandemic reaching the shores of Ghana in 2020, the government put in place measures and interventions to cushion the people. Ghanaians enjoyed free water, electricity, and food for a period, and this cost the government money.

In an interview with Samuel Eshun on e.tv Ghana’s ‘Fact Sheet’ show, Julius Gyimah said, “These monies were used to carter for Ghanaians and were an attempt by the government to absorb some of the pressures coming with COVID-19. Fast track to 2021/22 all the monies have been spent. The gov’t has projected to rake in GH¢100 billion in revenue but our expenditure is GH¢137 billion. So straight away we have a budget deficit of GH¢37 billion in the 2022 budget."

"The times we are in now is not the time for government to look at tax concessions or consider giving freebies to Ghanaians and all that be it businesses and individuals. The truth and reality are individuals and businesses are suffering and I think the way forward is what government is trying to do.”