Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG), Rt. Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante has asked Ghanaians to prepare their minds to pay more taxes.
Rt. Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante noted that less than 10% of Ghana’s population pay taxes insisting the only way the country can experience development is through taxation.
Touching on the E-levy he pleaded with the government to start with a much lesser rate rather than implementing the 1.75% rate it is currently pushing.
“Even as we in Ghana now are thinking about budget…whether we should pay e-levy and so on and so forth, what I want to say is whether it is E-levy or not, every Ghanaian must tune his or her mind to the fact that paying taxes is what will move us forward.
Any country that we have seen in this world that have progressed, they are paying lots of taxes. In Norway, you go there and the taxes they are paying…. over 40% of taxes and the tax base is spread.
In Ghana, less than 10% of the population is paying taxes which is a serious matter. So, we all need to have a mindset of tax paying. We should pay more taxes than we are doing,” he said on GBC.
“I want to suggest to government with all seriousness that whiles I’m talking about paying taxes so that we can move ahead, please do it slowly for us…bit by bit so that we just don’t start 1.75 “kim.”
It becomes a killer for people. People must get used to it. As we move along if you increase it little by little it will help all of us,” he advised.
