Seal the Leaking Tax Basket to Save the Taxes

 
Payment and collection of tax is very important in the development of a country. It is the only way government raises money to fund development projects.

Quite of recent, the government sought to widen the tax net in order to raise enough revenue to fund development needs of the people. The opposition was opposed to the introduction of new taxes. They explained that the Ghanaian is being over burden with too many taxes. In fact I agreed with the opposition's stand. 

Here is my reason for agreeing with the opposition. The 'pockets' into which the taxes are being collected are 'torn' and therefore cannot keep good account of what has been collected. This is what is happening to the taxes the poor man pays everyday. If you are in this situation, where the taxes that are collected cannot be accounted for as it only find their ways into private pockets, how can you have enough to expend on projects?

In view of that, I have always maintained that the solution to the problem is to block the leakages in the collection of taxes. Because even if the government decides to tax everything including the air we breathe, leaving the leakages unblocked, the objective for the introduction of new taxes will never be achieved. 

If systems are put in place to ensure the taxes that are collected actually ends up in the basket (one that is leaking), I think we would have enough to meet our development needs so that there would be no need to introduce new ones as to over burden the ordinary taxpayer.

In fact, fetching water into a basket with the expectation that it will be stored is a matter of faith! However, same cannot apply to collecting tax into a leaking basket and expect that you will have enough to use.

The president in his State of the Nation Address announced the introduction of some new taxes. The IMF has also tasked the government to tax a few more stuff as part of the conditions for financial bailout the government is seeking. Well, Ghanaians really don't have a say; we can't really put up any resistance. Over the years, we have had governments that do not listen to the cries of ordinary people. You may have to brace up for payment of more tax!

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