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24.11.2022 Headlines

Unbelievable, you now increase VAT after protesting it under Rawlings — Ablakwa jabs Akufo-Addo

Unbelievable, you now increase VAT after protesting it under Rawlings — Ablakwa jabs Akufo-Addo
24.11.2022 LISTEN

Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has expressed disappointment over government’s proposed increment in Value-Added Tax (VAT) by 2.5 percent.

He is amazed that President Akufo-Addo can now see the benefit in the evil he once prayed against.

In 1995, Mr Akufo-Addo led some Ghanaians to protest the introduction of VAT under former President Rawlings's administration, a protest that later turned violent and even recorded some incidences of death.

On that count, the legislator said in a tweet on Thursday, November 24, that he is very shocked about the President’s U-turn.

“Who could ever have imagined or predicted that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who led the fatal 1995 Kumepreko demonstration against the introduction of VAT under President Rawlings which tragically claimed the lives of Ahunu Ahonga & 5 others would today be increasing VAT by 2.5%,” he wrote.

Reading the 2023 budget statement and economic policy in Parliament on Thursday, November 24, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister, announced that there will be a 2.5 per cent increment in VAT effective 2023.

Meanwhile, according to the minister, the long-held public outcry about the reduction of the 1.5 per cent E-levy to 1 per cent has been answered.

“To aggressively mobilize domestic revenue, we will among others increase the VAT rate by 2.5 per cent to directly support our roads and digitalization agenda.

“...Review the E-Levy Act and more specifically, reduce the headline rate from 1.5% to one per cent (1%) of the transaction value as well as the removal of the daily threshold,” the Minister announced.

Isaac Donkor Distinguished
Isaac Donkor Distinguished

News ReporterPage: IsaacDonkorDistinguished

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