TUC fears of more layoffs, tough times over 3 new taxes

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) says the passage of the three new revenue taxes will make life more difficult for Ghanaians.

According to TUC’s Deputy Secretary-General, Joshua Ansah, many of the new taxes will be passed on to consumers.

The Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2022, the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill 2022, the Ghana Revenue Authority Bill 2022, and the Income Tax Amendment Bill 2022 were all passed by Parliament last Friday.

Joshua Ansah, who spoke to journalists in Accra said the new taxes will impoverish ordinary Ghanaians and lead to massive job cuts.

“The increase in taxes has its own positives and negatives. The negative effect of taxes is that manufacturers and companies who produce locally are to reduce employment when the tax burden is too much. Employers are going to lay off workers if they are unable to meet their income as against their expenditure.”

Some groups in the business community in the country have expressed disappointment with Parliament’s approval of the government’s three new revenue tax bills.

For instance, reacting to the passage of the bills, the spokesperson for the Food and Beverages Association of Ghana (FABAG), John Awuni said it is disappointing that Ghana’s lawmakers disregarded the cry and agitations of the people and went ahead to have the bills approved.

“We feel very disappointed that the three tax bills were passed by the Parliament of Ghana, especially supported by the NPP MPs when no one was consulted on the new bills. We are disappointed in this action and the MPs must realise that they are representing the people of Ghana and not themselves.”

Mr. Awuni also lamented the absolute disregard of the Association’s petition against the passage of the bills which he said a simple dialogue could have prevented the passage of the unfriendly policies.

AGI

The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has become the latest business community in the country to slam Parliament over the passage of government’s three tax bills into law.

AGI in a statement signed by its Chief Executive Officer, Seth Twum Akwaboah said the passage of the bills is detrimental to the economic growth of the country because they “pose very dire consequences for Industry.”

The Association says it was not consulted prior to the introduction and debate of the bills and that its submissions were not considered.

“We denounce the lack of stakeholder consultation on such fiscal policies, which have negative impact on businesses. AGI took steps to make input to the bills, and it’s obvious that our submissions did not receive the consideration we expected.”

It also mentioned some hurdles including inflation, VAT, increased utility tariffs, etc. already confronting the business community which the government and Parliament disregarded to have the three bills passed.

AGI also warned that the new taxes will force industry to cut down expenditure and production volumes which will eventually affect the revenue the government is seeking to rake with the passage of the bills and called therefore called for engagements with the various stakeholders to forestall future consequences.