Majority members in parliament with the full support of the executive organ have autonomously increased the Value Added Tax to 17.5 percent.
Despite the minority’s boycott of the proceedings, the acting speaker on the day, Ebo Barton-Odro, approved a 2.5 percent increase in VAT, moving the current 12.5 percent to 15 percent in addition to the 2.5 percent National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL).
This move certainly spiked a livid Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu who has accused the entire government of acting “infantile” during times when knowledge and experience must be applied. The minority leader narrated to Okay FM that before the bill was passed; rumors were rife that government was preparing the grounds to increase VAT.
As a concerned citizen, he revealed that he quickly inquired from the Majority Leader of Parliament and the Minister of Finance who gave him the assurance that government had no intentions to increase VAT. He took their word for it but was left dumbfounded when the NDC Majority smuggled in the 2.5 percent without Parliamentary debate and due process.
“Just last Friday, when we converged to make a bill, the deputy minister of finance proposed that VAT be increased, and immediately, his colleagues on the majority side agreed that it must take effect,” he said of their poor tactics to introduce the increment.
“Governance isn’t about doing infantile things, but NDC is making it appear so. Whenever government wants to increase tax, there is an urgent need to inform the taxpayers and explain to them why the need to increase it. Government only brought a VAT memorandum to parliament but the content never captured anything on increment. They have neglected the laws of the house and it comes as a surprise that they have increased it,” he lamented.
Source: GhanaWeb
