The Minister of State at the Presidency in charge of Public Private Partnerships, Rashid Pelpuo, has called on the Private Business Consultative Forum to reconsider their decision to embark on a three- day strike beginning Monday February 29. Members of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana, Food and Beverage Importers Association of Ghana, Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders, Customs Brokers Association of Ghana among others, have declared a three-day strike beginning Monday.
The strike is to demand a reduction in taxes which they fear could collapse their businesses soon. Government has been criticized for repeatedly taxing the few businesses employing Ghanaians instead of widening the tax net to rake in more revenue. Dr. Rashid Pelpuo says the strike is unnecessary, claiming that Ghana’s taxes are the lowest in the African sub region. “I can tell you that with all these challenges about taxes compared to the sub region, Ghana’s taxes are still one of the lowest and besides that, we feel for the private sector and we want to encourage them to invest.”
Dr. Rashid Pelpuo further explained that the taxes are equally needed to develop the country for the benefit of all including the businesses. “We want to create wealth and create value. The challenge we have is that, the economy is getting transformed, situations are changing. We are beginning to own our policies and our own initiatives, rather than an imposition from somewhere, mobilizing resources from within is prime in any economy.”
He added that,”We don’t want to continue to depend on external borrowing. It has become the hallmark of how we relate to the rest of the world. We want to break that chain and ensure that we mobilize funds from within, and that’s how come in order to mobilize funding, you have to tax the people to do it, but we are taxing in ways that will not cripple businesses.”
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