2016 budget must come with measures to broaden tax net - CEO

The CEO of GAM-Ank Investment Group has called on the Finance Minister to include in the 2016 budget some measures aimed at broadening the tax net.

This according to Dr Sam Ankrah is the only way government can make some revenue.

In an interview with George Wiafe on Joy FM’s Business Trendz programme, Dr Ankrah said with the current challenges facing the country, introducing any new taxes or hikes will not be a prudent move.

“We need to increase the tax net, there is too much under declaration, there’s too much evasion of taxes and a lot of things are not taxed at all. These are the things he should look into not to tackle the few who are still paying the taxes.

“For instance what is the government’s policy towards breweries and production lines, are they still allowing tax officers to go to these production lines and within three, four months they’ve build houses just to do physical checking or they have deployed systems that in real time check what goes on in these production lines? I believe the government has to be innovative, we have to partner with experts and see what is happening elsewhere”, he continued.

Dr Ankrah’s call comes as the Finance Minister readies to present the 2016 budget in Parliament on Friday November 13, 2015.

According to the revised budget presented earlier this year, estimates for 2015, government is looking at revenue target of Ȼ30.5 billion, it has so far been able to raise, 20 billion as at August this year.

Financial Analyst, Charles Mensah agrees with Dr Ankrah.

Making his submission on the programme, he said through his engagements, many businesses have kicked against an increase in taxes.

The current economic challenges, in their view will make any more increases in taxes unbearable and will cause their businesses to collapse.