2021 budget is “nothing but taxes galore” - Akandoh

Kwabena Minta Akandoh, Member of Parliament (MP) for Juaboso, has described the 2021 Budget Statement as "nothing but taxes galore”.

According to him, most of the policies initiated by the Nana Akufo-Addo led government on the economy so far had not yielded any results and not see any hope in this year's budget.

“It looks as if the whole budget is about introducing new taxes, they were unable to tell us the impact of their policies on the economy.”

Mr Akandoh was speaking to the Ghana News Agency in reaction to the 2021 Budget Statement and Financial Policy of the government delivered by caretaker Finance Minister Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, in Parliament.

The presentation of the budget was normally done by the Finance Minister on the authority of the President.

However, this year the shift has become necessary because of the absence of the Finance Minister Designate, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta who is abroad receiving treatment from COVID-19 related health issues.

Mr Akandoh also criticized the government for increasing the levies on Value Added Tax (VAT) and National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which he said, would worsen the plight of Ghanaians.

He said instead of the government focusing on bridging the infrastructure deficit in the health sector in this COVID period, they were rather interested in increasing levies on the people.

Mr Andrews Agyapa Mercer, MP for Sekondi, in his reaction to the budget statement, lauded the Government for initiating the Ghana Cares Programme to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

He said the refrain that desperate times require bold and decisive action was what had informed the formulation of the budget.

He said as a result of the huge cost associated with COVID the government had to devise measures to raise the requisite revenue without necessarily creating problems for the productive sectors of the economy.

Mr Mercer said the increase in VAT by one per cent to pay for the COVID-19 related expenses was very creative.

He described the budget presented to the House as impressive and forward looking to take the country out of stagnation and put it back on the path of growth.

---GNA