The Minority leader in Parliament, Cassiel Ato Forson has revealed that tax exemptions are becoming too much and the existing tax exemption regime for the 1 District 1 Factory (1D1F) programme must give way given the current economic crisis the country finds itself in.
According to him, the existing tax exemption regime for companies under the 1D1F must be restructured.
Speaking to the media on the tax exemption regime, the vice chairman of the COVID-19 ad-hoc committee, now minority leader indicated that the Finance Committe has been lackadaisical in approving tax exemption due the current situation of the nation.
“Yes we have done a lot of work on the tax waivers. We believe that tax exemptions are becoming too much and particularly at a time like this that the country needs every cedi to save our economy you cannot continue granting tax exemptions. And so, you will notice that the finance committee has been very adamant in approving tax exemptions.
“We worked with the ministry and eventually we led it to get the tax exemption bill passed. So, we have a tax exemption regime in place as a country for the first time as we speak. In terms of the savings that the finance committee has led parliament to save in terms of tax exemption if you quantify it with our report, you will notice that we have made huge progress as a country in terms of tax exemptions,” Mr. Ato Forson stated.
On his part, the Majority leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu also agreed with the comments by Mr. Forson that the exemption regime must be looked at.
“A lot of people were also taking advantage of that regime to seek tax waivers that were not really helping the country. Having said that, this is the reason why we have introduced this tax exemption Act. So, from now on it is going to be the guiding principle.
“The difficulty now is we are somehow standing, imports that were occasioned especially those of the 1D1F they are here the imports have arrived and it was predicated on the old regime. Now, if you want to benchmark on the new law it becomes a difficulty”, he added.