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Digital platform for property tax compliance ready for implementation, says Bawumia

Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says Ghana now has the infrastructure to implement a property tax system across the country

The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says the government has developed a national common platform for property tax administration for the country

He said the common platform will operate across all the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies across the country.

Dr Bawumia said it is unacceptable for property owners to evade taxes, adding that the lack of an effective property tax regime accounts for this evasion by owners of properties.

Speaking at a public lecture at Ashesi University, on the “Role of Digitalisation in Transforming the Economy,” Dr Bawumia indicated that a digital platform has been developed and will soon be launched, through which homeowners will receive tax bills, pay taxes as well as track their payment history. 

“We lack the key elements to implement and monitor an effective property tax regime. An effective property tax regime requires that we are able to identify all properties, access the value of all properties, identify and maintain a property ready database, send property tax bills to the owners and enforce the payment of taxes.” 

He said, “Thanks to the implementation of the National ID, the National Digital Property address system, the mobile money interoperability and the Ghana.gov project, Ghana now has the infrastructure to implement a property tax system.

“We have been working on this over the last two years and thanks to the hard work of Minister of Local Government and Rural Development as well as the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, with support from the Minister for Finance and the Lands Commission.” 

Bawumia said, “We have finally developed a national common platform for property tax administration for Ghana which will operate across all the MMDAs in Ghana. The platform is ready and is expected to be implemented by the ministry of local government.”

The government over the years have been advised to broaden the tax net to raise more revenue. 

Some experts have proposed that the country should go back to property taxes through simple automation to plug the loopholes while urging the government to ensure value for money by providing basic social amenities such as roads, electricity, water and others to justify the collection of rates.

Nicholas Brown

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