The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has bemoaned the high and multiple taxes imposed on their businesses, which they say greatly impact their revenue margins.
President of the Union, Dr. Joseph Obeng said high taxes have had negative repercussions and collapsed several of his members’ businesses, and continue to do so, and warned the situation is likely to worsen if urgent measures are not taken to mitigate these collapses.
Dr. Joseph Obeng who was speaking at the Second Annual General Meeting of the Association of Customs House Agents Ghana in Tema argued that many businesses are on the verge of folding up due to the high taxes imposed on local businesses.
He reiterated the need for authorities to make taxes friendlier in order to achieve maximum compliance from business operators.
“Taxes must be made affordable and easy to ensure compliance, but what our revenue authorities have done and continue to do which we think is a big mistake, is that they do the opposite, they make tax payments very complex, and very expensive, and it does not ensure compliance.
“They make it too expensive and succeed to cripple or collapse businesses for the sake of getting just a little revenue to develop the State, and we have done this all these times, and it has not helped us.”
He said the higher taxes encourage people to evade taxes at the least opportunity which has affected the taxpayer base, which he said could easily be expanded by making taxes cheaper and easier to pay to realize the maximum benefits.
“It is time that we make taxes affordable to ensure compliance, bringing everybody on board, so you can maximize your lot. If you do not learn this simple fact, you will always go around the circles pretending to be collecting the taxes, and you are not getting anything.”
“The taxes we pay in this country are so high, especially at this time when exchange rates are taking from the left, interest rates are taking from the right, and then, we increase what they call Benchmark Values to make it practically impossible for trades to trade now.”