The Ghana Union of Traders Associations has urged the public to brace themselves up for the increment in prices of goods and services following the review on the Value Added Tax (VAT) which Mr Ken Ofori Atta announced on Thursday.
The VAT was reviewed upward by 2.5% by the government. The increment brings the tax to a total of 15%.
According to the Finance Minister, the government’s decision was to aggressively mobilise revenue to “directly support our roads and digitalisation agenda” among other things.
But weighing in on discussions pertaining to the subject on 3FM, which was monitored by Angelonline.com.gh Clement Boateng, the Vice President of GUTA said the move by the government was untenable and unfortunate.
He opined that the government could have “reintroduced the road toll and automated it so it becomes modern” to maximize the revenue collection rather than increasing the VAT which affects everything else.
According to him, the system used before the scrapping of the levy had loopholes which allowed the attendants to rob the system, therefore the upgrade would have been expedient.
“But if you put it on VAT which is a consumption tax then definitely it is going to affect goods and services. So therefore the consumers for that matter must brace themselves up for that increment because it is going to affect duties at the port, it is going to affect everything so therefore prices are going to be up,” he concluded.
