Gov’t Targets GH¢47bn Revenue

Government has projected a revenue target of GH¢47.632 billion for the 2008 financial year.

The target which far exceeds the ¢33 trillion for 2007, would be accrued from both tax and non-tax revenue and is equivalent to 43.6 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Finance and Economic Planning Minister, Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu announced this last week when he presented the 2008 budget to Parliament.

The decision by government to shore up the revenue is due to its will to reduce the country's fiscal deficit, which has been narrowing for the last couple of years, mainly because government's revenue is improving to balance its expenditure.

Part of the move is the introduction of a specific excise duty per minute of airtime use by mobile phone subscribers, which is expected to rope in more revenue.

The nation's development partners have also pledged to commit $350 million into the government's 2008 general budget.
The support is expected to help Ghana attain the Millennium Development Goals and the middle-income status by 2015.

Regarded as the largest revenue collector, the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) is expected to mobilize about 50 per cent of the total tax revenue while the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will collect about 30 per cent.

The Value Added Tax (VAT) Service is expected to mobilize the remaining 20 per cent from VAT and National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL).

Third quarter results of the country's tax revenue collection for this year showed that Ghana fell short of its revenue target though domestic revenue mobilization still remained robust.

While the Value Added Tax (VAT) Service bagged ¢3.15 trillion (GH¢314.83), missing its target of ¢3.24 trillion, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) exceeded its target by 7.3 per cent, collecting ¢6.17 trillion (GH¢617.65 million).

The Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) collected ¢11.64 trillion (GH¢1.164 billion) as against a target of ¢12.02 trillion.

By Charles Nixon Yeboah