The president of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Dr Joseph Obeng, is urging the government to ensure that there is always uniform taxation on businesses in the country.
He said this on the back of the current challenges faced by the local business industry that led to some shops closing in Kumasi.
According to Dr. Obeng, in terms of taxation, there must not be favouritism where one group will be forced to pay taxes whilst others are allowed to transact businesses without paying taxes.
He appealed to President Akufo-Addo to prevent foreigners from taking over the business designated for Ghanaians.
According to him, “foreign business centres like the China Mall and Palace Mall are selling most of the products on the local market, and that is draining down the profit margin of the local market”.
He added that “the nation is currently facing serious economic challenges, and it is the hope of the union that the current International Monetary Fund (IMF) negotiations ongoing will boost the local industry rather than worsening their plight as business persons in the country”.
Members of the Adum Traders Association in Kumasi recently embarked on demonstrations against the continuous cedi depreciation in the country.
According to the Adum Traders Association executives, “people are not buying their goods due to the high cost as a result of the inflation and coupled with the high tax regime, it was becoming difficult to operate their shops”.
In an interview with some traders, they claim that “they always make a loss at the end of sales because although they pay taxes to the government, they are unable to calculate tax on the goods they sell to customers”.
Adding up to all this, the GUTA president appealed to the government to find suitable and sustainable ways to revive the economy to help reduce the huge taxes imposed on goods imported by businessmen and women in the country.