GRA rakes in GH¢1 million from property tax in 5 months

The Ghana Revenue Authori­ty (GRA) has mo­bilised more than GH¢1 million through property rates from June to the first week of October this year.

Mr Ernest Adade, Head of Communication, Myassembly.gov.gh Project, who disclosed this during a stakeholder engagement at the Institute of Local Govern­ment Studies at Ogbojo, Madina, with Presiding Members at the weekend, said in order to rake in more revenue, hundreds of Na­tional Service Personnel had been deployed to the various assemblies to assist in the collection of prop­erty rates.

Myassembly.gov.gh is a unified common property rate online platform introduced by the GRA last year to make all payments of property rates cashless.

 The platform would ensure inclusion and expand the payment bracket without necessarily in­creasing the rates while improving the overall collection.

The government announced in the 2023 budget statement and economic policy it would intro­duce property rates, and that re­sponsibility has been given to the GRA to liaise with the assemblies to collect property rates from the assemblies.

Mr Adade urged those default­ing in the payment to do as soon as possible, adding, “Notice letters have been served to defaulters of property rate and the next step is to publish their names in newspa­pers and later send them to court to seek permission to sell their properties to defray the cost.”

Mr Adade indicated that the property rate was helping boost the revenue of some assemblies in the country.

“In fact, I know a district here that has gotten more than three times what it has ever collected. They’ve got more than three times already by the end of last month,” he stated.

Mr Adade said the myassem­bly.gov.gh platform was helping the District Assemblies to collect property rates.

He said the platform, among others, identified all the proper­ties in an area, which helped the assemblies to collect the tax. My assembly directs you to the digital payment platform where you make the payments.

The Head of Operations for the Myassembly.gov.gh, Joshua Toxla, urged the assemblies to ensure there was transparency and accountability in the use of the property rates.

BY KINGSLEY ASARE