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Ghana lost 140 billion cedis in taxes
due to power rationing
Akosombo (E/R), Feb. 17, GNA - The power rationing programme
made the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to loose revenue
estimated at 140 billion cedis which it could have collected
as taxes for government last year.
This was because the exercise made many companies in the
country to record low earnings which could be taxed by the
IRS.
The Commissioner of IRS, Major Ablorh Quarcoo disclosed this
at the formal opening of a three-day IRS Management Seminar
at Akosombo , which ended on Saturday.
The seminar was being organized under the theme: “Improving
organisational performance-The importance of effective
management” and it was being attended by the top management
personnel and regional managers of the service.
He said last year, the Service exceeded government target by
72.76 billion cedis and was able to collect more taxes
getting to the end of the year through the efforts of a
special task force set up by the service in November last
year which also created public awareness for more tax payers
to honour their tax obligations.
Major Quarcoo said, this year, the government revenue target
had been raised from 7.3 trillion cedis to 8.9 trillion
cedis , an increase of 22.13 per cent.
He said the increase had been made at a time when government
had abolished the reconstruction levy and made several tax
concessions to companies in the 2007 budget statement.
Major Quarcoo said his organization was going to adopt a
number of strategies to enhance tax collection to enable
them to meet their new target, which include the
re-launching of the tax stamp and the establishment of
Small Taxpayers Bureau in
the districts to bring in more potential taxpayers from the
informal sector into the tax net.
He said the Service would also use the Global Positioning
System to enable the service to track properties to enhance
rent tax collection.
Major Quarcoo said the Service would also develop the Income
Tax Verification Sticker to track people who own several
vehicles but do not pay taxes.
In a speech read on behalf of the Minister of Finance and
Economic Planning, Mr. Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, he announced that
government had decided to implement the computerization of
the IRS this year.
He said government had secured funding and the software for
the computerization process to take off.
Mr Baah Wiredu urged the IRS to reciprocate the gesture of
government by bringing in more tax revenue through a
sustained tax education campaign to widen the tax net, the
enforcement of tax laws to enhance compliance and the
prosecution of tax defaulters to deter tax evasion.
The Executive Secretary of the Revenue Agencies Governing
Board,
Mr Harry Owusu called on the IRS to come out with new ways
of doing business without creating the atmosphere of
harassment and intimidation of the tax payers.
He urged the IRS to extend love and courtesies to the tax
payers and urged the service to strengthen its Public
Relations outfit to engage the tax payers in dialogue.
Mr Owusu reminded the managers of IRS that though automation
was
good, it was only a tool for the achievements of a set goal.
The Eastern Regional Director of IRS, Mr Joseph Oppong
appealed for the relocation of the Nkawkaw Office, the
renovation of the Akim Oda Office
and the provision of vehicles for the offices of the Service
in the region.
He said though the region could not achieve its target for
2006, when the region was adequately resourced, it could do
better.
The Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana and Acting Chairman
of the Revenue Agencies Governing Board, Mr. Lionel Van Lare
Dosoo, who chaired the function urged IRS management to
critically look at how the re-denomination of the cedi would
impact on their way of doing business and plan ahead to
ensure that the IRS would be up to the task when the
exercise starts in July this year.
GNA
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