Dancehall musician, Shatta Wale, has lambasted the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) for consistently demanding taxes from him when they haven’t invested a penny in his career.
He has insisted that the GRA has no right to hunt him for taxes adding that he (Shatta) struggled alone to attain this level of success in his career.
“GRA can
Read full articleonly come for my money when they have helped me to build this. If you don’t solve the issues for me, don’t come to me when I am making money," he told Paul Adom Otchere on the Good Evening Ghana show.
He continued: "I can be in Ghana and they will go like GRA wants to tax me. Do they know when I started with my laptop and a single PC? You should have been there to help at that time. No government protects our craft. They don’t know how I’m making the money."
Buttressing his points further, the Dancehall artiste described as unfair how some Black Stars footballers are massively benefiting from the government whiles musicians are being left to figure themselves out.
To this end, Shatta believes that when Ghanaian artistes like him struggle against the odds to make it, government agencies like GRA should keep off their wealth.
“They don’t buy me boots, give me bonus or even buy me first-class tickets like they do for Dede Ayew, Asamoah Gyan and other Black Stars players. I haven’t gotten any bonus from my music. My last bonus was my GHC30,000 GHAMRO royalties," Shatta said.
He continued: "Recently GRA came on me hard that I couldn’t even behave well. I understand I am a citizen and I have to pay tax. But what di the government do for me as a citizen to pay tax? This is what I complain about every day of my life."
The SM boss also addressed popular assertions that he often fails to relay his concerns in a subjective manner.
“Anybody who has a problem with how I communicate, they should carry their house matter and keep it like that.”
