Finance Minister-designate, Ken Ofori-Atta, has said tax revenue to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) can be increased to as much as 20 per cent in 2 or 3 years.
In his view, this is possible given government’s aggressive digitalization drive to formalize the economy and increase revenue mobilization.
Ghana’s tax revenue to GDP performance in 2020 according to data released by government was 14.7 per cent, this is however, lower than the average tax revenue to GDP rate of 16 per cent on the continent.
Government in the 2021 Budget Statement has revealed plans to increase tax revenue as a proportion of GDP to 16.7 per cent this year..
“So really I know there will be issues of efficiency with regards to tax revenue mobilization, but the pace at which we are going with the digitalization agenda, I think we have these numbers at the right places and within 2 years or so we should be able to raise our tax revenue to 20% of GDP as we want,” said the Minister-designate for Finance.
Mr Ofori-Atta made the above assertion speaking on revenue losses in the petroleum sector which is reported to have amounted to Ghs 2 billion in 2020 alone.
The tax revenue losses seen in the sector according to reports are due to regulatory lapses and loopholes.
