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Ghana Has 7.9 Million Taxpayers Registered, Only 1.5 Million Pay Tax. The Ministry of Finance in Ghana has recently revealed that of the 7.9 million registered taxpayers in Ghana, only about 1.5 million fulfil their tax obligations.
This revelation was made by Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. Alex Ampaabeng at the launch of the 8th Ghana Economic Update by the World Bank.
The deputy minister disclosed that the majority of registered taxpayers in the country have refused to pay taxes, thereby reducing the revenue generated by the government.
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According to him, his outfit and the Ghana Revenue Authority are currently cleaning the tax database to ensure that the country gathers more tax revenue.
The Ministry of Finance is working in partnership with the GRA to reduce lots of tax violations.
He mentioned that the government plans to do everything within its power to improve the fiscal environment.
Part of the government’s efforts to make this happen is to reduce the human interface regarding tax collection and better digital collection.
The country’s tax revenue generation has been very unimpressive compared to its peers.
Between 2017 and 2021, Ghana’s average tax collection was 13.2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which was really below the Sub-Saharan African average and 8.0 percentage points short of the country’s estimated tax capacity of 21.2% of GDP.
The World Bank (WB) report pointed out areas of inefficiencies within Ghana’s tax policy framework and compliance mechanisms.
One of the areas that the WB report identified where this could be improved is rationalizing huge tax expenses that have contributed to the total decline of tax revenues.
According to the report, this would demand striking the balance between lowering revenue losses and the potential distributional and social impacts.
If done successfully, it could ensure macroeconomic stability and create the resources needed for sustainable long-term growth and poverty reduction efforts.
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