The sea has no potholes but our taxes cost more than cars we import - Automobile dealers

President of the Automobile Dealers Association of Ghana, Eric Kwaku Boateng has decried the exponentially high amounts of taxes they pay on cars they import into the country.

On his accord, taxes paid by automobile dealers are more than 100percent of the cost of cars they import.

“How can you buy a car at 5,000 dollars from Korea and when you get to the port, you have to pay taxes as much as 7,000 dollars on the car. The sea has no potholes and we don’t fix it so why do we have to pay such high taxes on our imports?” he asked.

He furthered that one would also have to rent a DP (Departure from Port) plate and also pay for the garage where the car will be stored, and these compounded make business tough on them.

Eric stated that automobile dealers suffer the most taxes in Ghana as they contribute over 90percent of the country’s taxes.

“90 percent of revenue generated by gov’t is from the automobile dealers. When revenue from cocoa and other resources are not coming, the gov’t goes straight to the port and increases the taxes. We don’t import food but always import cars and we suffer when these taxes are introduced or increased”, he said in an interview on the Happy Morning Show aired on e.TV Ghana and Happy and hosted by Samuel Eshun.

On his authority, the tax burden has fallen predominantly on automobile dealers and businessmen and hence, asked authorities to make sure everyone contributes equally to increase the country’s revenue

“Politicians refuse to pay taxes and even assemblymen dont pay taxes at the toll booths. But If we want to grow as a country, then we should all pay taxes. This is the only way for Ghana to develop and grow”, he added.