The next president of Ghana has drawn the sympathies of Mr. Franklin Cudjoe, President of IMANI Africa, over the ongoing tax increases implemented by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
“I think it is important to be very careful how we want to deal with this economy. I pity the next president of this country because what it means is that you are going to deal with this nonsense of taxes and there will be no breathing room at all,” he stated.
According to Mr. Cudjoe, the next president will have a very difficult time raising revenue since the current administration will drain every available source of funding before they leave office.
Ghanaians now face the highest tax burdens in history from the government that pledged to shift the country’s economic priorities from taxes to production.
As the government continues to impose tax measures in an attempt to meet requirements for the US$3 billion International Monetary Fund bailout program, the tax burden on Ghanaians has now reached unsustainable levels.
The government was required to raise cash internally as a precondition for the three-year program after it requested financial assistance from the IMF. The tax burden has gone up as a result of this.
But Mr. Cudjoe believes that further taxes may be imposed in the future, as the government has declared that it needs more money.
His comment follows the recent implementation of Value Added Tax (VAT) on household power consumption which took effect from January 1, 2024.
