Bawumia Meant No Disrespect To GRA Staff – Spokesperson

Dr. Gideon Boako has responded to the reaction of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) workers regarding Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s claim that businesses are being harassed in the name of tax collection.

On Wednesday, March 20, Dr Bawumia attributed this issue to the GRA’s imposition of unattainable targets on its officers, leading to excessive taxation of existing businesses.

Bawumia Calls Out GRA

Dr Bawumia, during a meeting with the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry members, said the current tax regime is a burden on businesses.

“They are harassing businesses. That harassment is coming from the sort of targets that are created at their office. They are setting unrealistic targets. And this is because the tax base is so narrow, you say to them, ‘this is your target for this month’, and they are trying to figure out where do I go.”

“Then for them, it is very easy, you go back to where you had it the last time. You go to taxpayers, the people who are already paying taxes and then you have to come up with a new reason why they should pay more and so you come up with all sorts of stuff,” he said.

GRA Reaction

But GRA staff say the Vice President’s statements undermine their hard work.

“We would like to state unequivocally that, we the workers of GRA find this statement unfortunate and consider it as an attack on the efforts of the hardworking staff of the Authority which if not discontinued, would incur the displeasure of workers, disrupt revenue collection efforts and breed industrial disharmony,” they said in a press release.

They added; “We wish to place on record that the unprecedented growth in Tax revenue collected in 2023 which yielded in excess of GH₵113bn is a major factor that has kept Ghana in the IMF bailout program. It is also an undeniable fact that the GRA has since the 2020 fiscal year met and in some cases exceeded the annual revenue targets despite the challenges of COVID-19.”

The Authority also said “the least we expect from the Vice President, if he would not appreciate the efforts of the Authority in raising Tax Revenue, is not to put the lives of our hardworking staff at risk with such unfortunate comments”.

Bawumia’s Spokesperson Claps Back

Tackling the issue during Peace FM’s Monday edition of “Kokrokoo” show, the Spokesperson for Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Dr. Gideon Boako explained that the Vice President had no intention to downplay the hard work of the GRA staff, rather his comments were in response to the harassment that some GRA officers subject business owners to.

According to him, Dr. Bawumia’s concerns are that they should be a flat tax system to enable the business owners gain enough income to ease the tax pressure on them and furthermore discourage the culture of harassment.

“They have problem with a certain report as if the Vice President says they are not doing their work effectively. I am saying that that is not what Vice President said and that must be settled that Vice President did not to impugn on the integrity of the GRA workers or to suggest that the GRA workers aren’t doing their job well.

“One thing is clear that Ghanaian businessmen have a problem with our tax system. One of the issues they have is what they describe as harassment from some officers of the Ghana Revenue Authority and this is what Vice President spoke about”, Dr. Boako fired back at the GRA.

He was of a strong conviction that the Vice President’s initiative to introduce a flat tax rate will improve businesses and boost the economy.

“When we do this, it will boost the economy because tax revenue is also a function of income. If a person’s business is not progressing, there is no way he/she can pay the tax to you. So, as economist as he is, he knows very well that total revenue is a function of price and quantity, therefore if your income is not enough, it’s either you increase your price or the quantity. If you increase the price and there is high quantity, we, the buyers, also have certain aversion to increases in price”, he stressed.

He added; “What he (Bawumia) is doing is that we should reduce that price with the same quantity or increase quantities. The Vice President therefore says we should focus on the number of tax payers and reduce the taxes so that if there are more tax payers and because the tax is moderate, you will get the same revenue that you want.”

“It was not for the Vice President’s interest to rebuke GRA staff or their attitude towards businesses in the open”, he concluded.

Source: Ghmessenger.com