Individuals and businesses will relatively pay higher for goods and services in the coming days, the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) has warned.
The Chamber made this revelation after President Akufo-Addo assented to the new tax bills – Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2022, Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill, 2022, Ghana Revenue Authority Bill 2022 and Income Tax Amendment Bill 2022 – passed by Parliament.
According to Chief Executive of GNCCI, Mark Badu-Abaogye, consumers will have to bear the additional cost that will arise from the new taxes measures.
This, he said has become necessary as businesses are already struggling to stay afloat following COVID-19 and the current economic crisis, hence the need for consumers to adjust their budget.
“These taxes are going to force businesses to pass on the cost in the form of prices to customers. So we should brace ourselves for an increase in prices of goods and services.
“Businesses are not even making profits and cannot absorb these taxes. If you take the excise duty for instance, businesses will have no option than to push the prices to consumers.”
Citing the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill, he noted that taxing collapsing businesses 5% on their profits will inevitably lead to their shut down.
“If you take the Growth and Sustainability levy, the businesses are not making profits and you want to tax 5% out of it. So, what we’re saying is that we don’t want businesses to collapse”, he said.
“I don’t think the IMF will be happy to see our businesses collapse because the amount of money that we will spend resuscitating the businesses and bringing them back to profitable level will be more than the $3 billion that we are looking for”, he added.
Following the amendment of the Excise Duty Bill 2022, Ghanaians will pay 20% of excise duty on sweetened beverages and 50% on alcoholic beverages.
Prior to the amendment of the Income tax bill, the government charged (5, 10, 17.5, 25 and 30 per cent) respectively on all income of an individual in employment, whether it is received in cash or in kind.
Full details of the current rates are yet to be made available to the public but it is certain that Ghanaian workers and consumers will pay more.
Source: The Independent Ghana