The Traders Advocacy Group in Ghana (TAGG) is urging the government to increase the tax base by requiring that all craftspeople in the nation be paid in coupons rather than cash.
According to its 10-point advocacy platform, TAGG has advised the government to start using coupons to pay the nation’s craftsmen.
According to TAGG, this will broaden the tax base and give the government more chances to raise money for development.
The president of TAGG, Kwadwo Amoateng, made this suggestion while speaking about the high cost of commodities and the cost of doing business in the country on Ghana Yesnsom hosted by Odehyeeba Kofi Essuman on Accra 100.5 FM on Tuesday, January 17, 2023.
According to him, if the government takes steps to introduce the coupon system for the payment of artisans, it will rope in all these people who were hitherto outside the tax net.
He said the coupon for payment if introduced at the various post offices across the country, just like how postcards are sold, will help in widening the tax net.
He said the coupons, if introduced, will rope in all those in the property industry, obliging them by law, to purchase the said coupons to use them as a form of payment to artisans such as carpenters, masons, among others.
He explained that the coupons will be in various cedi denominations for purchase.
“All those who intend venturing into the built industry may have to purchase these coupons and use them as a form of payment to the artisans working for them,” he said.
He noted that after the close of the day, the artisans would be expected to present their coupons to the banks for cash where their Pay As You Earn (PAYE) is deducted at source.
As a way of incentivising property owners for purchasing the coupons, he said the coupon receipts will be used by the property owner to secure a rebate on his or her property rate to be paid to the government.
He argued that this is a smart way of widening the tax net compared to the usual increments in Value Added Tax (VAT) and increasing taxes at the port of entry.