The Trade Advocacy Group Ghana (TAGG) has accused the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) of misleading Ghanaians.
According to TAGG, GRA wants Ghanaians to believe that the government is no longer taking import duties through the customs system but has been able to successfully generate revenues through its taskforce.
This comes on the back of GRA’s statement, which dismissed claims that it is deliberately harassing members of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) and TAGG over tax collections.
GRA explained that, the operation to collect all taxes owed to the state is part of measures to ensure that government rakes in tax revenues to undertake developmental projects.
The statement also said it has raked in about ¢105,000 within two months through upfront payments, with a corresponding increase in VAT registration.
But TAGG has said they are unhappy over attempts by GRA to misinform the public against the trading community.
“Unfortunately, GRA misled the public into believing that traders do not follow tax regulations and engage in smuggling under declaration, misdescription, and concealment,” Portions of a statement issued by TAGG read.
According to them, their concerns over harassment and extortion were not addressed by GRA.
“In this context, business associations’ complaints about extortion and harassment were not addressed. We would like to take this issue one at a time and ask the Commissioner General and the Commissioner of Customs if indeed all of these containers were able to evade their notice and leave the port, only to be arrested later and lauded by Ghanaians, as they prove in their release statement with examples,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, TAGG has warned traders would never cooperate with GRA taskforce if they continue operating with such impunity.
“Between 2000 and 2008, Ghana served as a trading hub for a number of bordering countries, including Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast. As a result of so-called GRA taskforce using our highways for harassment and extortion, these countries are steadily lowering their flow of doing business in Ghana.
All we are asking is that, if GRA chooses to rely on these monitoring teams as they claim, they should do so without victimising innocent importers and traders who would be subjected to extortion, intimidation, and harassment at the end of GRA’s legitimate mandate,” TAGG urged.
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