Information Minister Kojo Oppng Nkrumah has said that the concerns raised by the minority against the list of companies that are requesting tax exemptions are legitimate.
He said Parliament is yet to examine the request.
It is recalled that the minority in Parliament served notice that they would resist an attempt by the government to give tax exemptions to some 45 companies presented to Parliament as One-District-One-Factory companies and Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) strategic investors.
The Minority Leader Dr Cassiel Ato Forson in a statement on Monday, November 27 alleged that to “satisfy their insatiable greed,” the Akufo-Addo government and its cronies had turned their attention to tax revenues.
The escalation in the sheer number of companies being presented to Parliament as candidates for tax exemption under this Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government, is frightening, he further stated.
Currently, he indicated, “there are about 45 companies that have been presented to Parliament as one- district-one-factory companies, GIPC strategic investors, etc, to be exempted from the payment of taxes. In total, Government is asking Parliament to grant tax exemptions to the tune of USD449,446,247.95 for these 45 companies. That is the equivalent of over five and a half (5.5) billion Ghana cedis!
“Because this is an issue that impacts our economy significantly, we have compiled a full list of all the 45 companies and their respective exemptions being requested. As a Minority in Parliament, we have a duty to let the Ghanaian taxpayer who is being burdened with all manner of taxes, know this truth.
“We are further told that there are a total of 118 companies being processed at the Ministry of Trade & Industry, Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre to be brought to Parliament for tax exemptions. The total value of exemptions for these 118 companies is about seven billion Ghana cedis! It is the considered view of the Minority that these requests for tax exemptions running into several billions of Cedis, are unconscionable, inordinate and bear all the trappings of organised crime.
“Ghanaians would recall the strange events on the floor of Parliament sometime this year, specifically on 28th July, 2023. On that occasion, the Minister of Trade and Industry, K.T Hammond, backed by the Chairman of the Trade Committee of Parliament, Carlos Ahenkorah, ganged up against one of their own and Chairman of Parliament’s Finance Committee, Kweku Kwarteng, accusing him of frustrating certain tax waivers. Their concern was that Parliament was conducting the necessary due diligence into these requests to ensure that the Ghanaian people are not shortchanged. Why the indecent haste, if we may ask?
“We in the Minority are serving notice that we shall resist these tax waiver applications fiercely! In their current forms, we shall resist each and every one of the tax waiver applications with all the tools and strategies at our disposal.”
Asked whether the government will address concerns raised by the Minority and the other stakeholders in the 2024 budget statement despite its approval, while speaking on the Ghana Tonight show on TV3 Thursday, December 7, Mr Oppong Nkrumah, also a lawmaker for Ogfoese Ayirebi, said “The government has already pushed the Exemptions Bill because we are clear not all tax exemptions are justified but like every other jurisdiction we are also clear that some exceptions are justified.
“Fancy a scenario where we need to build an interchange in Takoradi, the PTC Interchange, a few hundreds of million of dollars which we don’t have and therefore we are borrowing from creditors to construct that PTC Interchange which would help our brothers and sisters in the Western Corridors a lot.
“The question is, should you impose a tax on that list of items in the credit facility? Because if you do that Four Hundred Million Dollar project may end up Four Hundred and Sixty Million Dollars because of the taxes and you will have to come and ask the Ghanaian taxpayer to pay Four Hundred and Sixty Million Dollars instead of Four Hundred Million Dollars, that is the decision you have to make.
That is why you have to determine whether every request for tax exemption is worth it or not. It is not a blanket rule that all tax exemptions are bad or all tax exemptions are good. I think it is legitimate that our colleagues raised questions that we want to examine the request for exemptions that are yet to be considered by the committee.”