We can’t pay ‘killer VAT’ anymore – Kumasi traders fumes

Some traders in Kumasi have called on the government to adopt more sustainable and business-friendly tax policies that would help the government to optimise its revenue mobilisation while promoting business growth.

They claimed that the current Value Added Tax (VAT) policy being implemented by the government “does not support our system.”

According to the traders, “the tax structure and its administration do not support the features of our market. The policy introduced taxation for each item as it travels along the distribution channel.”

They said the current system where the tax was applied to every single item along the distribution line was making the cost of items more expensive and beyond the reach of the customers

Point of entries

Addressing the media in Kumasi on Wednesday, October 12, 2022, Charles Kusi Appiah-Kubi, Executive Secretary of the Ashanti Business Community, proposed to the government to collect all tax at the point of entry of the goods into the country and to allow those in the value chain to operate free of intimidation and harassment.

He said the current practice where the same item was charged from the key distributor down to the last consumer, was overburdening the consumer and making goods more expensive.

He said the tax should be collected just once at the point of entry, either at the ports or at the factories, thereby allowing the businesses to operate freely.

“Government should take all its revenue from the points of entry. Take all the charges you want to charge at the point of entry or at the manufacturing and leave us alone,” he said.

“We are ready to pay our corporate income tax and our Pay As You Earn (PAYE), but we can’t pay the VAT again,”.