Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta says government will review the income tax threshold to ensure that minimum wage earners are not made to pay tax from next year.
This is one of the several policies the government intends to introduce in 2018 to stimulate investment and to shape Ghana’s economic, the minister announced in his 2018 budget statement to Parliament on Wednesday.
The current minimum wage agreed by the tripartite committee consisting of members from government, the employers association and organised labour is GHc9.68.
“[Government will] review the current income tax thresholds by pegging the tax-free threshold to the current minimum wage in an effort to protect low-income earners and ensure fairness in our income tax administration,” Mr. Ofori-Atta said.
As part of the stimulus package, government, he said, will grant tax incentives to young entrepreneurs who are 35 years and below who start their own businesses holidays based on the number of persons employed.
There would also be the introduction of a Voluntary Disclosure Procedures (VDP) in the Revenue Administration Act, 2016 (Act 915) to waive penalty on voluntary disclosures and payment of unreported and understated taxes by taxpayers within a period agreed with the Commissioner- General of GRA.
On the National Fiscal Stabilisation Levy (NFSL) and Special Import Levy (SIL), Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta said though it would be extended, he promised that it will end in 2019.
He said government in 2018 would undertake a comprehensive review of pay systems to attract and retain skilled personnel to the public.
“Government will accelerate the full rollout of the Human Resource Management Information system (HRMIS) to cover all MDAs, MMDAs and Subvented institutions by the end of June 2018,” he announced.
Sign up for GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.
