Dr. Anthony Yaw Baah
Head of Research at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Dr Kwabena Nyarko Otoo has appealed to government not to introduce any new taxes in the 2019 budget.
He said government must take measures aimed at reducing the cost of living of Ghanaian workers.
Speaking on Morning Starr over the weekend, Dr. Otoo said there have already been increases in the prices of fuel, goods and services, transportation, as well as telecommunication services, and any new tax would make life unbearable for the Ghanaian worker.
The TUC, in a document submitted to the Finance Minister for input in the 2019 Budget, urged government not to impose any new taxes.
“If you read our proposals for the 2019 budget, we made it clear that the economy is growing per the figures from the Statistical Service and the Ministry of Finance. But it is not translating into the lives of people.
“We now have a situation of mass lay-offs particularly in the private sector. We also have a situation whereby taxes appear to be biting the ordinary Ghanaian. So, if you take even the telecommunication companies and their attempt to review their tariffs, they made mention of the fact that the tax regime is a key factor in the decision to do that,” he said.
According to the TUC, the high cost of living brought about as a result of some government policies and imposition of taxes is eroding the income of workers.
Dr Otto explained that “in our review or the media review of the economy, we actually also indicated and made mention of the fact that the delinking of the National Health Insurance Levy and the Ghana Education Trust Fund levy from the main VAT could increase government revenue. But because businesses will be unable to seek the refund, they are more likely to pass it on to consumers and this appears to be the case currently.”
“So for the ordinary worker, if you take those in the public sector for instance, having had about 10% wage increase for the year have now been slapped with a number of other increases,” he added.
– Starrfmonline