The moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rt Reverend Professor Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante, has urged Ghanaians to develop the mindset of paying more taxes to contribute to national development.
According to him, less than 10 per cent of Ghana’s population pay taxes which did not bode well for the progress of the country.
Rt Rev. Prof.Mantemade this known in an interview with the Ghanaian Times in Accra on Sunday on the ‘E-Levy’ which was currently before parliament.
The man of God, who did not make known his stance whether he supports the e-levy or not, stressed the need for effective taxation which would spur on the mobilisation of revenue for the progress, growth and development of the country.
“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 per cent of taxes and the tax base is spread. In Ghana, less than 10 per cent 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 added.
He suggested to the government to reconsider the 1.75 per cent e-levy to move ahead and for people to get used to it.
“I want to suggest to government with all seriousness that, while I’mtalking 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 said.
BY VIVIAN ARTHUR
