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Consumers of the locally prepared alcoholic drink, akpeteshie, have been warned to brace themselves to pay more for the commodity because of the government’s insatiable appetite for taxes.
Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, gave the warning in his concluding remarks on the 2024 Budget Statement and Economic Policy document.
He alleged that the government has introduced 50 new taxes since assuming the reins of power in 2017.
The new taxes, he warned, will bring nothing but more burden on the already impoverished Ghanaian.
“Mr. Speaker, you recall in 2017 this same Finance Minister told this House that they were removing so-called ‘nuisance taxes.’ That was a hoax! Today, we are witnessing an epidemic of nuisance taxes, taxes, and more taxes.”
“This government has burdened Ghanaians with over 50 taxes despite their promise ‘to shift the economy from taxation to production.’ Mr. Speaker, notwithstanding the over 50 taxes imposed by this government since 2017, this 2024 budget is introducing additional taxes worth GH¢11 billion,” Dr Forson said in Parliament on Wednesday, November 29, 2023.
Taking to his social media pages to give a breakdown of the taxes, he accused the government of running out of ideas through the imposition of taxes.
As a result the budget still hangs in the balance after the NPP MPs walked out on it during its approval process on Wednesday, November 29, 2023.
The House is thus expected to take a firm stance on the fate of the budget on Thursday, December 7, 2023.
