The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has called on the members of the house of legislature to, as a matter of urgency, carefully and properly analyse the issue of taxes before imposing any more on the business community.

This comes on the back of three revenue mobilisation bills that have been laid before the house.  

In a statement issued on Monday, 27 March 2023, and signed by its President, Dr Joseph Obeng, GUTA noted that the government, in “2017, realising the importance of lessening the tax burden on businesses, removed what was deemed to be nuisance taxes. 

“As of now, these nuisance taxes are creeping back in various forms and folds seriously suffocating businesses in the country to death.”

According to GUTA, the “business community in the country has done its best in terms of tax payment”.

It added: “Against all odds and the challenges in 2022, the government was able to exceed its revenue target”. 

“Therefore, if the government wants to increase its revenue base, the best way is to adopt innovative means to capture those businesses outside the tax net, review policies on tax exemptions, warehousing, free zones, etc. to curtail the abuses, as well as prune down expenditure.”

It continued: “While businesses are being overburdened with numerous taxes, high fees, charges, interest rates also continue to rise astronomically”. 

“As the inflation rate reduces, we expected that the monetary policy rate too will come down, but unfortunately, that is not the case.”

“Our worst fear is that if care is not taken to reduce the unbearable tax burden on businesses, it will collapse businesses, increase poverty, and create insecurity in the country,” the association indicated. 

It further indicated that: “Currently, doing business in Ghana is extremely costly and suffocating.”

The association added: “This makes us irrelevant in the scheme of affairs in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), as well as cross border trade within our sub-regional bloc.”