A former Deputy Minister of Finance, Abena Osei-Asare has defended government’s introduction of new levies in the 2021 budget.
Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and caretaker Minister for Finance while delivering the 2021 budget statement in Parliament announced a number of taxes government intends to slap on Ghanaians.
They include the 10 pesewas per litre tax on diesel and petrol Sanitation and Pollution Levy (SPL) and 20 pesewas per litre of petrol and diesel to be used as Energy Sector Recovery Levy.
Others existing taxes are also being reviewed upwards.
According to the Member of Parliament for Atiwa East, these taxes are just a way for Ghanaians to share a burden with the government in order to reduce the country’s debt stock.
Speaking on Citi TV’s Face to Face, Mrs Osei-Asare explained that the new taxes are a way to ensure that Government does not have to borrow any huge amount of money.
“We are hoping to raise revenues in taxes and grants to the tune of GHS72 billion and the expenditure is GHS113 billion. So the difference is roughly around GHs41 billion and that is the deficit, that is what government will have to finance and this time government is saying that, it cannot solely depend on borrowing to finance the gap, so it will have to ask its citizens to share in the burden.”
She stated that the government is introducing the new taxes to help cushion other aspects of the economy that will propel them to increase production and thereby increasing revenue for Ghanaians.
“The government is seeking a burden-sharing. We are saying that these are programs I need to continue and I need to pay public sector workers and there are policy initiatives and COVID-related expenditures I need to fund because COVID-19 is still with us so help me by sharing in this through these new taxes and levies.”