Popular Ghanaian actor and Clement Bonney popularly known as Mr. Beautiful has said government’s plan to demand tax from entertainers will never ever see the light of day.
The staunch supporter of the opposition NDC party, stated that other successive governments that have tried to impose tax on performers have failed in that regard because no proper education was done to sensitize entertainers on the need to pay tax.
According to him, should the ruling New Patriotic Party also revert to same tax demand approach by compelling them (Entertainers) to pay without proper discussion, they will fail woefully.
Mr. Beautiful indicated that reason why entertainers have always kicked out Government’s decision to pay tax is owing to the fact that Government has done nothing for the Creative Arts industry.
“Government has done nothing for the creative arts industry to demand for tax. What Government needs to do is to consider having a discussion with stakeholders in the industry. This tax system should be well understood by us. Government has to school us to tell us why it’s important to pay the tax if it has supported or done anything good for the arts industry. For me, the approach Government wants to use will rather make it worse.” Mr. Beautiful told Andy Dosty of Hitz FM.
Mr. Beautiful statement comes after actress, Mercy Asiedu also indicated that they [Actors] are ready to go to prison over nonpayment of taxes.
According to the actress, an attempt by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to take taxes from her and her colleagues in the movie industry is unfair and does not make any sense.
Narrating what happened to Hitz FM’s Andy Dosty, the actress disclosed that officers from the GRA called her colleague actor Lilwin while they were on set, and informed them that they had to pay tax for every movie they shoot.
According to her, she said she told the GRA officials that they already pay for copyrights, therefore, they will not pay the tax.
She admitted that a lot of them do not understand the law regarding payment of that tax and called on the Tourism, Arts and Culture minister, Catherine Afeku and related agencies, to educate them.
