The Minority Leader in Parliament, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, says the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government lacks innovative ideas to solve the challenges of the country.
Speaking to the press on Tuesday, July 24, after the presentation of the mid-year budget by the Finance Minister, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, Dr. Ato Forson reiterated that the mid-year budget review offered no roadmap to solving the problems of Ghana.
“…..typical of this government this address was uninspiring, bereft of new ideas, gives no hope and fails to offer the roadmap for addressing the numerous problems facing the people of Ghana. …. Ghana and that anything this government has said and has done over the past 7 and half years, they’ve done nothing to reverse the negative trend,” he said.
He further stated that the NPP government has rather burdened businesses and the people of Ghana with taxes in the last seven and a half years.
“in the last 8 years the Akufo-Addo Bawumia government have burdened the ordinary Ghanaian in businesses with a number of taxes, making Ghana a high tax regime, these taxes include E-levy, Covid levy and effective VAT rate of about 22%, a distorted Value Added Tax regime, a Borla Tax in other words Sanitation levy, a high tax on petroleum products, an emission levy, high import taxes, burdensome fees and charges across all sectors of the economy and over 40 new taxes in the last 7 and half years,” Dr. Ato Forson added.
The Minority Leader added that as a result of taxes imposed on businesses, especially on importation, lucrative businesses have shut down and relocated to other African countries, consequently making Ghana less attractive to investments, thereby increasing unemployment.
“These burdensome taxes have made Ghana unattractive for investments and foreign direct investments, as a result, many Ghanaian businesses are relocating to Togo and Ivory Coast among others. Ghana has lost so many job opportunities as a result of the relocation of these businesses, this adds to the already high unemployment situation due to the fact that Ghana has failed to create new jobs,” he added.