The National Democratic Congress (NDC) says it is committed to creating one million jobs in four years if John Mahama is elected in the 2020 presidential elections.
The party at a press conference to explain how it will create the jobs said an employment act to create more jobs will be passed in Parliament while they work to change the economy to a 24-hour economy.
“The next NDC government will create a 3-shift economy, especially in manufacturing and other high-end services, which operates 24 hours non-stop. Thus, the additional two shifts will be a source of additional employment. Companies that currently operate 24 hours with only two shifts of 12 hours each in violation of the labour law (which specifies a maximum of 8 hours), will be required to run three shifts and thus create a third stream of jobs,” he said.
Sammy Gyamfi said the NDC is interested in creating a friendly business environment to encourage the private sector to create more jobs, adding that this will also be done through tax breaks.
“Our plan is to stimulate the creation of sustainable jobs by creating an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive. One of the things we will do to achieve this is to significantly reduce the cost of doing business in Ghana through tax cuts, so that businesses are able to plough back their savings into their businesses, expand and create sustainable jobs,” he said.
He added that scrapping import duties on commercial vehicles and agricultural equipment will also help in achieving the creation of one million jobs.
“As you may be aware, our continuous decline on the World Bank’s ease of doing business index under the Akufo-Addo government, is mainly as a result of high tax payments. The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and other bodies have had cause to lament the crippling effect of high tax payments on their businesses under this government. This is why the next NDC/Mahama government will provide tax rebates for businesses such as:
- A total scraping of the 25% corporate income tax for small businesses
- A reduction of Corporate Income tax for medium-scale businesses from 25% to 15%.
- A two (2) year Corporate Income tax exemption for newly incorporated medium-scale businesses that employ 20 people and above.
- A Two (2)-year tax holiday for youth startups and businesses.
- Reverse the increment in VAT that the Akufo-Addo government has introduced through the backdoor which has made it impossible for businesses to claim Input Tax Credit/refunds on 5% NHI and GETFUND levies.
- Scrap Import Duty on commercial vehicles and vehicles and equipment imported into the country for agriculture, or agribusiness or industrial purposes.
“These tax rebates will go a long way to reduce the cost of doing business so that businesses are able to inject the savings into their businesses for the creation of more jobs,” Sammy Gyamfi said.
The creation of one million jobs is one of the major policy plans the NDC has announced in its 2020 election manifesto.