Corruption is a tax, says Joe Jackson

Corruption is a tax, says Joe Jackson

Director of Operations at Dalex Finance, Joe Jackson, has described corruption as a tax on the citizens of a nation.
This is because, corruption, just like a tax (particularly indirect tax) affects every citizen.

Making the assertion during the NorvanReports and Economic Governance Platform’s X Space Discussion on the topic, “Corruption In Ghana: Impact on Everyday Lives and the Economy”, Mr Jackson averred corruption adversely affects the majority of the Ghanaian populace and businesses, particularly SMEs.

According to him, the reason behind numerous taxes in the country is the result of corruption.

“The reason why we are being taxed too much is because of corruption, countries with high levels of corruption mean that people are not paying taxes and are getting around it. And so we (citizens) end up being levied with indirect taxes which can’t be avoided.

“Corruption in itself is a tax that people pay but is enjoyed by a collective few which include the politicians, technocrats, big businesses etc.

“Those that have the connections get the contracts and give them to the businesses (SMEs) that can do them and demand a 10% or 15% or 25% cut of the money.

“And so before the businesses (SMEs) even start the work, they have already lost 10% to 25% of their income, and so they will pay employees less, and the SME itself has no incentive to do the work well,” he noted.

Speaking further during the X Space discussion, Mr Jackson noted labour unions, CSOs, and citizens, in general, should intensify the fight against corruption rather than tax increments by the Government.

This, he noted, is because corruption is responsible for the many ills in the socio-economic development of the country.

“The Labour Unions, and CSOs should fight corruption more than tax increments, LGBT, and so on. Corruption is killing us, if you don’t get paid well enough at work, it’s because of corruption.

“If we have poor education systems, poor health care systems etc in the country, then it’s all because of corruption,” he remarked.

Touching on how to address the issue of Ghana’s endemic corruption, Mr Jackson quipped there is a need for a broad-based coalition between Faith Based Organisations, Civil Society Organisations, Academia, Politicians, and every Ghanaian to come together to say no to corruption and name and shame individuals particularly public officials that get involved in corruption.

Ghana is estimated to lose between $12bn to $13bn annually through corruption according to IMANI Ghana.

Ghana has scored zero for the fourth consecutive year in fighting corruption, according to the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2023 by Transparency International (TI).

The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), the local chapter of Transparency International in its report said, “Ghana scored 43 out of a clean score of 100 and ranked 70th out of 180 countries and territories included in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2023 released on 30th January 2024 by Transparency International (TI). This marks the fourth consecutive year of stagnation in Ghana’s anti-corruption efforts, as indicated by the CPI.”

Transparency International attributed Ghana’s stagnation to the deteriorating justice system, which it says is reducing the accountability of public officials and therefore allowing corruption to thrive.