The Ghana Revenue Authority Workers’ Union (GRAWU) has described as unfortunate some statements attributed to Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia that the GRA is harassing taxpayers.
According to members of GRAWU, such statements could lead to worker discontent which could hinder revenue collection, and cause industrial unrest.
In a statement sighted by JoyNews, the Union also highlighted the contradiction in Dr. Bawumia’s stance, given his role as Head of the Economic Management Team.
“It is strange that the Vice President, who also doubles as the Head of the Economic Management Team could suggest that the Authority gives itself unrealistic targets while he is well aware that annual targets are assigned to the Authority by the government through the Ministry of Finance," part of the statement read.
The union further appealed to President Nana Akufo-Addo to address the issue since the statement by the Vice President could hurt revenue collection in the country.
“We also call on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the GRA Board, Civil Society organizations and all well-meaning Ghanaians to admonish political functionaries to desist from making such pronouncements and intervene swiftly as this statement poses a major risk to revenue mobilisation efforts going forward”.
The rebuttal by the union follows concerns voiced by Dr Bawumia during a meeting with the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday, March 20.
According to Dr Bawumia, the current situation where businesses are made to pay numerous taxes to the GRA is due to the setting of unrealistic targets for officers.
“They are harassing businesses. That harassment is coming from the sort of targets that are created at their office.
"They are setting unrealistic targets. And this is because the tax base is so narrow you say to them, 'This is your target for this month', and they are trying to figure out, where do I go?
“Then for them, it is very easy, you go back to where you had it the last time. You go to taxpayers, the people who are already paying taxes and then you have to come up with a new reason why they should pay more and so you come up with all sorts of stuff,” Dr Bawumia had said.
But in response to this, the Organized Labour in a statement dated Friday, March 22, 2024, condemned the Vice President's comments.
“We would like to state unequivocally that, we the workers of GRA find this statement unfortunate and consider it as an attack on the efforts of the hard-working staff of the Authority which if not discontinued, would incur the displeasure of workers, disrupt revenue collection efforts and breed industrial disharmony.”
Read the statement by the Union below:
Credit: Felicia Osei