Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. Simon Osei Mensah, has ordered the Ashanti regional branch of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to reopen shops they locked up in some parts of Kumasi for defaulting in paying tax this year (2017).
The minister’s order comes on the heels of series of agitations which nearly culminated into a massive demonstration by the aggrieved traders against the current government for what they called ‘killer tax increases.’
Many traders at the Krofrom Market in Kumasi petitioned the Ashanti regional minister to intervene in what they described as a deliberate attempt by the GRA to push them out of business.
The traders lamented the sudden huge increases in their taxes for 2017, a development, which they said, was new to them.
What they could not clearly understand was whether the increment was from the executive arm of government or from the regional branch of the GRA.
Explaining their plight to the minister, some of them produced documents to show the astronomical changes in the tax rates, describing it as ‘insensitive.’
For instance, one of them, Juliet Owusu Sekyere, who paid GH¢352.50 in 2016 is being requested to pay GH¢1200, an increment of 240.9 per cent.
Another trader, Agatha Sarpong, who paid GH¢450 in 2016, is also being asked to pay GH¢1200 for the year 2017, an increase of 166.67 per cent.
“The possible reason for the action(s) of the Krofrom Small Tax Payers’ Office is pure concoction of inefficiency, incompetent and corruption. This government will not sanction such astronomical increases in taxes,” the minister said.
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