The President of the Ghana Union of Traders’ Associations (GUTA), Dr. Joseph Obeng, is demanding a reduction in high import taxes.
He argues that the exorbitant taxes are driving traders to resort to any means necessary to evade them.
Dr. Obeng’s comments come amidst revelations of bribes collected by customs officials to fuel the smuggling of goods from neighbouring countries to the country’s local markets.
These officials take bribes ranging between GH¢20 to GH¢200 to allow these traders who have evaded taxes on their goods to get off the hook.
In an interview, Dr. Obeng described the customs officials who aid the traders in clearing their goods as “angels.”
“A tax system that is so extortionately high and very unbearable and this is the problem. Sometimes the customs officer that we say is taking a bribe, the word bribe is not bribe for the trader. It’s a favour that the customs officer has given us (the trader) because we were eventually able to clear our goods. Without that, we couldn’t even have cleared the goods,” he said.
He emphasized the need for more reasonable taxes and a complete overhaul of the system to foster an environment where customs officials can operate with integrity.
“The trader that goes to the poor customs officer because of our inability to pay our taxes makes the customs officer obliged to take something so that they can take the goods out, make him an angel for us and this is true.”
“The clearing agent can do the same and the trader can do the same without even pointing fingers at anyone. Even those people telling us to pay the legitimate taxes and duties and all that, they face the same when they are clearing their goods, they face the same thing and use the same clearing agents,” he told Joy News.