A contender for the flagbearer position in the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kennedy Agyapong has expressed his commitment to include individuals in the informal sector within the tax payment framework.
He has outlined this initiative as part of a comprehensive strategy aimed at broadening the scope of the country’s tax collection efforts.
During an appearance on Citi TV’s “Face to Face” program, Kennedy Agyapong elaborated that individuals operating in the informal sector, such as artisans, often earn higher monthly incomes than their counterparts in office jobs.
To substantiate his point, he provided an example from his own experience. He mentioned that a mason working at his construction site in Tema earns GH¢150 per day, resulting in a monthly income of around GH¢4,000. Comparatively, a university graduate employed at Oman FM and Kencity Media receives a monthly salary of about GH¢2,700.
Kennedy Agyapong highlighted the disparity where employees of organizations like Oman FM and Kencity Media are subject to taxation, while those involved in artisanal professions such as masonry are not.
To address this discrepancy, Kennedy Agyapong proposed a solution whereby every artisan and worker in Ghana would be required to register, obtaining a license and a unique pin number. This approach would enable their inclusion in the tax system, ultimately contributing to the nation’s revenue generation efforts.
He said, “My policy on taxes is that taxes will be reduced and expanded and what I mean by reduce is that taxes in this country are so high but only a few people are paying taxes.”
“I am a pragmatic person and I have the experience. I am a business person and I am fortunate to have employed educated people, uneducated people, and artisans and I can tell you that artisans make more money than some educated people and this is clear in my construction site in Tema where a mason makes about GH¢150 a day which translates to close to GH¢4000 a month and graduate at Oman and Kencity makes between GH¢2,700 and is taxed in addition but the mason is not taxed,” he added.
The businessman further said, “When I am given the opportunity to become president, every artisan, everybody working in this country will have to register to have a license and a pin number so that we can tax them and when the tax base is expanded, we then reduce taxes.”