PEF ENGAGES PARLIAMENT AND OTHER EXPERTS ON TAX REFORMS FOR MSMEs

A cross-section of public and private stakeholders at the dialogue session 

As part of an ongoing research supported by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), PEF met with the leadership of the Parliamentary select committee on Trade and the committee on Finance to present to them findings and recommendations from its research work on reforming the tax system in Ghana. During the period, PEF also met key agencies such as the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Civil Society Organizations to discuss the findings and recommendations to solicit their inputs to shape the final report.

This will ensure that businesses in different financial categories are made to pay taxes commensurate to their financial capabilities (ability to pay). Effectively this system is expected to make tax compliance more voluntary on the part of the MSMEs resulting in an expanded tax net which will inturn lower the cost of tax administration and boost government tax revenues. Eventually, it is the expectation that the private sector will become more tax compliant due to the introduction of better business-friendly provisions in the TIERED SYSTEM OF TAXATION taking into account the socio-economic realities of the business environment in Ghana thus creating a competitive thriving private sector which will boost government revenues to enable it execute its developmental agenda.

The next phase of the project will be to finalize and share the report with key stakeholders and policy makers in the country which will then launch us into full scale advocacy in print and electronic media. We believe this exercise will improve the ease of doing business in the country by creating an enabling environment for tax compliance and administration.