Government’s domestic revenue is projected to be increased by more than 20 per cent next year in view of the introduction of the National Tax Stamp policy which takes effect from January next year, Deputy Minister of Finance, Kwaku Kwarteng has said.
Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has projected to raise GH?34 billion domestic revenue this year, but the quarterly revenue performance of the Authority does not appear the country might not achieve its domestic revenue target, but government is upbeat of the improvement of domestic revenue next year, which has been pegged around GH?40 billion.
The deputy minister who disclosed this in Accra yesterday at a workshop to educate the media on the Stamp Tax Policy, said the policy would ensure GRA took tax on all eligible products under the policy.
The government enacted the Excise Tax Stamp Act 873, 2013 to make it mandatory for the affixing of excise tax stamps on certain excisable products before they were released into the retail market for sale.
Among the products to be affected by the Excise Stamp include cigarette and other tobacco products, alcoholic beverages whether bottled or canned, non-alcoholic carbonated beverages whether bottled, canned or packaged in any other form, bottled water and any other products prescribed by the Minister of Finance.
Consequently, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta in August launched the National Tax Stamp programme.
Mr Kwarteng explained that the Tax Stamp Policy was to ensure tax compliance and boost government revenue.
He explained that the policy would take effect in January next year where imported goods would be required to affix the tax stamp on their products.
The deputy minister said government had absorbed fifty per cent of the cost of the tax stamp.
Mr Kwarteng said tax payers would bear the cost of the tax stamp for the first six months in the implementation of the programme and government would bear fifty per cent of the cost in the subsequent six months.
He dispelled the notion that the introduction of the tax stamp would highly increase the cost of products on the market, saying the cost of tax stamp was a negligible component of the tax build-up on manufacturers and importers.
Touching on the printing of the tax stamp outside the country, Mr Kwarteng explained that the current government inherited the contract and could not abrogate it.
He said the five-year contract is being executed by Authetix, a security printing company, at a cost of $58.5 million.
The Commissioner-General of the GRA, Mr Emmanuel Kofi Nti in his closing remarks said the programme was to improve government revenue mobilisation.
By Kingsley Asare
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