President Mahama Files Tax Returns For 2012

President  John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday filed  his  tax returns for 2012 at the  Domestic  Unit  of the  Ghana  Revenue  Authority in Accra.  

The  President said, being there  personally is a symbolic gesture  that everyone is  equal before the  law. 
  
In a brief interaction after filing the  Tax Obligation, President  Mahama hinted of  government's plans to institute reforms  aimed at expediting  revenue  collection.  

He said the passing of legislations will help rope in more people and sectors into the tax net that would subsequently raise the Gross Domestic Product from the current 17 per cent to a higher percentage to enhance Ghana’s chances of becoming a middle income country.

President Mahama appealed to the staff of the GRA to cooperate with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to ensure smooth coordination that could speed up tax collection.

Commissioner General of GRA, George Blankson, said the harmonization and modernization of the revenue authorities enabled them to collect a total of GHC1.7 billion Cedis as tax last year and hoped that with more modernization procedures they could perform better.

He said the three per cent retention granted by government had weaned GRA from government budgetary allocation, and appealed to government to provide the Authority with a Central Headquarters to enable it to effectively coordinate activities.

Mr. Blankson commended government for providing the GRA with vehicles and other logistics, and appealed for the passing of legislations to enable the body to step up tax collection at all sectors of the economy.

The programme was also attended by Director- Generals of all the revenue collection agencies under the GRA.
 
GBC