Deputy Finance Minister Dr. Alex Ampaabeng has proposed that online trading companies should be taxed to strengthen the economy.
He highlighted that both local and international companies generate substantial revenue from their Ghanaian clients, making taxation necessary.
In an interview with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV’s “The Point of View,” Dr. Ampaabeng discussed various potential revenue sources for Ghana, emphasising online businesses and content creation companies.
He questioned why national companies operating in Ghana are taxed, while social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook, which host numerous advertisements, are not subject to the Ghanaian tax system.
Dr. Ampaabeng pointed out that these social media companies profit from the advertisements they display, and online trading companies earn significant income from their products and services.
He mentioned online trading platforms such as Jiji, Jumia, and Tonaton, which he believes exceed all physical marketplaces in Ghana in terms of scale.
“I can’t think of a country that has not gotten a digital service tax system of some sort, so Ghana is long overdue. Just to make an example so that people will appreciate where I’m coming from. Go to YouTube and play a video, within one or two minutes, you are going to watch about two or three advertisements.
“What it tells you is that Facebook or Youtube is making profits right here in Ghana. Go to your Facebook account, and you are going to see a number of ads on your right and left.
What it is telling you is that Facebook is making profits right here in Ghana and not being taxed. Meanwhile, there are companies operating in Ghana, for jurisdictional reasons, of course, that are being taxed.
“So then, it comes to the question of the application of our tax laws. Revenues generated in Ghana are subject to taxes. We have Facebook, TikTok and all those players; these are digital platform owners.”
He stressed, “Then we have the digital or market players; here we are talking about individuals who are using the digital platforms. We have Jiji, Jumia, and Tonaton, these combined are bigger than all the physical marketplaces in Ghana. And it tells you the volume of transactions that are going on there.”
He expressed his hope that individuals earning online profits from Ghanaian residents would be taxed.
“There are conversations ongoing; I wouldn’t want to preempt anything, maybe in the future, it might not be anytime soon, what I would like to see is a Ghana where people who are earning all forms of profits in the country are subject to taxes. People who are trading online with Ghanaian residents, people who are generating revenue from Ghana, are allowed to pay taxes,” he noted.
Additionally, he proposed a collaboration with the government to curb cybercrime by registering and verifying these online trading companies.
“We can have a system where the government engages these operators, so individuals will submit their Ghana Card and are registered and verified.