By Ebi Kesiena
General Secretary of the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL) Mr. Abraham Koomson has revealed that over 14 taxes imposed on the importation of raw materials in the country, are crippling the manufacturing sector.
Mr. Koomson noted this while speaking at the Ghana News Agency Tema Industrial News Hub Boardroom Dialogue.
Koomson, who indicated that the over-taxation of raw material importation was gradually crippling the manufacturing sector of the country, insisted that something must be done about it urgently.
According to him, the taxes on the raw materials are Import Duty, Import Value Added Tax (VAT), National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL), Covid-19 Levy, GETFund Levy, Net Charges, ECOWAS Levy, and Shippers Levy.
Others are; the Disinfection Fee, Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) E-One District One Factory Fee, Inspection Fee, African Union Levy, Special Import Levy, and EXIM Levy.
“How can you produce with such taxes around your neck and suffocating you, that is why all the companies are running down,” he lamented.
Mr. Koomson reminded Government that with such huge taxations, manufacturing industries could not produce at competitive prices and still break even leading to most of them shutting down their operations.
He noted that, the GFL was in talks with the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) to jointly tackle the issue adding that other stakeholders would also be contacted for their inputs on the overburdened taxes on raw materials.
Furthermore, he disclosed that the Ghana Federation of Labour had already written to the GRA for a meeting to discuss the issue among others, adding that they were also considering petitioning Parliament on the taxes to ensure that the industries survived and provided the needed jobs for the large unemployed youth.
“If nothing is done about it, it will wreck the whole system down and unemployment will continue to increase,” he added.
He therefore, called on the government and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to consider reviewing the tax regime and removing some of the taxes on the importation of raw materials for the manufacturing industry to survive.
