Williams Kwasi Peprah, the finance expert and associate professor with Andrews University in Michigan, USA, has advised the government to find innovative and effective ways of mobilising revenue.
Peprah also expressed reservations about the huge cost incurred by the government before generating revenue.
Speaking on the back of a staff-level agreement reached between Ghana and the IMF for a US$3 billion bailout, Peprah said mobilising internal revenue is critical to grow the economy.
“In Ghana, we actually use too much money in the collection of taxes, which does not make sense,” Peprah said on The Asaase Breakfast Show on Wednesday (14 December). “We need to do the opposite of this.”
“We must use little money to collect the taxes that need to be collected. This is feasible because there are examples all over the world that we can use as case studies,” Peprah said.
Enforce tax compliance to boost revenue generation
Meanwhile, Adu Sarkodie, an economist with the University of Ghana has said Ghanaians must be made to enjoy certain services after producing their tax certificates.
Sarkodie is optimistic that the government can prioritise raising revenue domestically by enforcing tax compliance in the country.
Speaking at the Danquah Institute‘s economic forum in Accra on the theme: “Restoring macroeconomic stability and sustainable economic growth: our collective responsibility,” Sarkodie said that state agencies must be tasked to generate their own revenues.
“Let’s enforce tax compliance by making sure that Ghanaians must present tax certificates to be able to access certain goods and service,” he said.
“There’s no substitute for domestic resource mobilisation,” Sarkodie said. “You can run to the Eurobond market, but the credit rating agencies will tell you to come home and mobilise resources domestically before the gates are opened for you to borrow more.”
He added: “We should encourage state institutions to generate their own revenue.”
Watch the forum in the attached video below:
Fred Dzakpata
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