Personnel of the Ghana Revenue Authority(GRA) have described pronouncements made by Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia that “GRA is harassing taxpayers and businesses” as unfortunate.
They further consider it as an attack on the efforts of the hard-working staff of the Authority which if not discontinued, would incur the displeasure of workers, disrupt revenue collection efforts and breed industrial disharmony.
The personnel further placed on record that the unprecedented growth in Tax revenue collected in 2023 which yielded in excess of GHS113bn is a major factor that has kept Ghana in the IMF bailout program. It is also an undeniable fact that the GRA has since the 2020 fiscal year met and in some cases exceeded the annual revenue targets despite the challenges of COVID-19.
“It is strange that the Vice President, who also doubles as the Head of the Economic Management Team could suggest that the Authority gives itself unrealistic targets whiles he is well aware that annual targets are assigned to the Authority by the government through the Ministry of Finance. Indeed, the least we expect from the Vice President, if he would not appreciate the efforts of the Authority in raising Tax Revenue, is not to put the lives of our hardworking staff at risk with such unfortunate comments.”
“Additionally, we wish to stress that The GRA administers tax in accordance with laws enacted by the Parliament of Ghana and not based on the whims and caprices of the workers. We also call on the President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the GRA Board, Civil Society organizations and all well-meaning Ghanaians to admonish political functionaries to desist from making such pronouncements and intervene swiftly as this statement possess a major risk to revenue mobilization efforts going forward,” a statement signed by Ghana Revenue Authority Workers Union said.
Source: Kasapafmonline.com
