Secretary General of the Ghana Federation of Labour, Abraham Koomson
The Secretary General of the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL), Abraham Koomson, has bemoaned the numerous taxes paid by businesses in Ghana.
According to him, the over 16 taxes paid are hindering the growth of businesses and collapsing others that cannot stand this pressure.
Speaking on GhanaWeb TV’s BizTech program hosted by Ernestina Serwaa Asante, he stated that the government tends to lose if businesses fold up, as no taxes can be collected from them.
To solve this high taxation problem faced by the business community, Abraham Koomson said the government must rather expand the tax net by roping in those in the informal sector instead of burdening the few that pay their taxes with new ones.
He told the host of BizTech, Ernestina Serwaa Asante, that, “If you [government] impose too much taxes on these industries, they will collapse and you will end up not getting any taxes at all. What we are saying is that, don’t overtax. Rather, help the industries to grow, expand and by doing that, you will end up getting more taxes from the employees and from the companies themselves but if you impose too many taxes, you’ll end up running down these companies.”
“They should expand the tax net so that everybody, whether you are in the informal economy or formal, can at least contribute. But you don’t impose this thing on the few investors that have come to establish and create jobs for your own people. You want to drive them away? They don’t care,” Koomson stated on BizTech.
He indicated that taxation for production was the best approach to deal with unemployment by creating more jobs.
He added that the high production rate recorded would attract more investors and that Ghana would remain the best investment destination in West Africa.
SA/MA
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