The Minister-designate for Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, has said that tax exemption is gradually becoming a major source of tax expenditure in the fiscal framework of the country.
According to him, the tax exemptions are “not properly targeted,” leading to a situation where a colossal amount of taxes are exempt at the detriment of revenue mobilisation.
He was speaking on Monday, January 13, 2025, during his vetting by the Appointments Committee for the position of the Finance Minister.
“Mr. Chairman, tax exemption is gradually becoming a major source of tax expenditure in our fiscal framework. Unfortunately, it’s not properly targeted, and so you see a situation where we exempt huge volumes of our taxes to particular companies,” he said.
Dr. At Forson further stated that many other people bear the brunt of the huge tax exemptions through increasing tax rates on the one hand, while exempting taxes for companies on the other hand.
“I believe everyone else must be given the opportunity to pay taxes,” the Minister for Finance designate posited at his vetting while responding to a question on one district, one factory.
He contended that “if the government insists on tax exemptions for 1D1F, they should put it in the law and allow everyone else to benefit from such tax exemptions.”
Recalling the nearly $458 million tax waivers for some companies under the 1D1F by the previous Akufo-Addo government, which were botched by the minority, the leader of the group, Ato Forson, did not regret his actions.
“I have no regrets in the sense that when these taxes were introduced to us in this house, initially we were called upon to exempt approximately $458 million. Upon my insistence, the Minister of Finance went back to working together with the Minister for Trade and brought it down to about $100 million,” he remarked.
He continued that, “So, Mr. Chairman, I have no regrets, and I think I did what was right for Ghana and for all of us, because clearly it wasn’t right for us to grant some of those taxes and shifts.”
