The Communications Director of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah, has charged the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to provide alternatives to solving the teething problems the country is faced with.
He took a swipe at the NDC for criticizing the government’s move to roll out new taxes, including VAT on electricity and the Emissions Levy.
Organized Labour and other stakeholders have kicked against the VAT on electricity, and the Ghana Road and Transport Union (GPRTU) have also vehemently opposed the Emissions Levy.
In an interview with Selorm Adonoo on The Big Issue on Citi FM/Citi TV, the NPP Communications Director called on the NDC to provide solutions to the country’s economic crisis since they are not in support of the imposition of VAT on electricity and the Emissions Levy.
Mr. Ahiagbah attributed the country’s woes to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, stating the situation has forced the government to slap new taxes on citizens.
He claimed that the NDC would have imposed much higher taxes on Ghanaians if they were to be in power, due to their democratic inclinations.
“What will be the NDC’s response, given the problems that we are in because knowing their disposition as social democrats, their tax orientation will be different from ours. We will impose fewer taxes but, by their socialization, they will introduce more taxes. So between us [NPP] and them [NDC], there’s differentiation. The NPP is a liberal-conservative political party; our disposition is not to increase taxes, but the difficulty in which we have found ourselves [compels us to do otherwise].”
“We are taking these medicines not because we are healthy. These are not preventive medicines; these are curable medicines we are taking as a country to be able to heal ourselves from the impact of the disease that we are suffering, in this case, COVID-19.”
He acknowledged that the government is mindful of the hardships Ghanaians are experiencing and will not worsen their situation by imposing harsh taxes.
“We are mindful of the position of the citizenry, one that we know is difficult. But under these circumstances what will be the NDC’s solution, whose inclination will be tax for government revenue? What will be their response? We need to have the NDC tell us what their response will be. The government hears what citizens are talking about, the NPP naturally will not apply this tax under any circumstance. They are the taxers, we use tax as a means to stimulate production,” he said.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has stated that it will not be part of the deliberations on the VAT on electricity.
But Ahiagbah called on organized labour and other stakeholders to honour the government’s invitation to dialogue.
“Democracy allows for dialogue and dialogue must be given a chance,” he urged.
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