“VAT is wrong tax for wrong people in a wrong country at a wrong time” says the Crusading Guide in its front-page banner headline. The paper quotes Professor George Ayittey, an economist and lecturer at the American University, Washington DC as saying when he expressed his view on the re-introduced VAT which replaces the sales tax. Prof. Ayittey described the VAT as a complicated tax system which is often characterised by evasion, even in the developed countries. “Ours is a young economy and so we do not need VAT” the paper reports hin as saying. VAT was proposed by the IMF/World Bank to enable the Government raise more revenue. But as an alternative, the Ghanaian economist advised that the government should be more prudent with its expenditure so that more revenue will be available so there will be not need for VAT.
