Tax Amnesty: Policy a conduit for ‘political funding’ from taxpayers to finance elections – Prof Gatsi
Dean of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) Business School, Professor John Gatsi, has said tax amnesty granted to businesses and individuals by the Government does not change tax evasion and tax non-payment behaviour of taxpayers.
Making the assertion in a Facebook post, Prof. Gatsi averred data from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) indicate that tax amnesty granted to taxpayers does not yield the expected results.
The Ghana Revenue Authority in 2019 revealed that its Tax Amnesty policy which was introduced to get taxpayers to clear all outstanding arrears was unsuccessful.
The policy, introduced in 2018 became apparent after the Authority failed to meet its target for the previous year. The Tax Amnesty spanned from February to September 2018 and it was to allow taxpayers whose taxes have been in arrears the opportunity to clear their debts without any penalties.
Prof Gatsi in his post on Facebook noted further that the Tax Amnesty policy could be politically abused and used to solicit funding from known taxpayers to finance elections.
“We are going to wipe the slate clean for every individual and every business and start a new tax system,” he declared speaking at an engagement with the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
