A member of the Legislative Advocacy working group pushing for the passage of the Tax Exemption Bill, Benedict Doh of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), has rated high the commitment of the Akufo-Addo led Government to the passage of the Bill so far.
According to him, the swiftness with which proposals from Key stakeholders were incorporated into the 2019 version of the Bill and reintroduced as the 2021 version to the new Parliament for consideration and passage, deserves commendation.
“If you read the provisions in the amended 2021 final draft which we have seen, it shows clearly Government’s commitment to dealing with this issue of exemptions. If you look at the introduction of the new provisions that has come to improve the 2019 one, you clearly would see the desire to cut down on these tax exemptions. And that it the consolation we have,” he observed.
He expressed the hope that the Bill which has so far straddled two Parliaments, will see the light of day and be passed into Law on time to cut down on Tax Expenditures along the lines of exemptions; knowing that the first Bill introduced to Parliament in 2019, failed to pass into an Act till the expiration of the tenure of the 7th Parliament on January 7th 2021.
The Tax Advocate who is one of the seven-member working group of the Legislative Advocacy Programme, made the comment in an exclusive interview with parliamentnews360.com on the subject. The working group reviewed the previous Bill and came up with six additional recommendations to further strengthen the Bill.
The Legislative Advocacy on the Tax Exemptions Bill, made up of a group of civil society organizations including the Tax Justice Coalition, Ghana (TJC); the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC); and the Parliamentary Network Africa (PNAfrica) with the support of OXFAM, took the initiative to push for the passage of the Bill when it became apparent that the political will was lacking.
The entire process of the advocacy programme is in three stages. The first one was to engage the Executive represented by the Ministry of Finance, to review the Bill to reflect the aspirations of all the key stakeholders before it is passed into an Act. So that it doesn’t still leave room for abuse. The second stage is to get the Executive to resubmit it to Parliament; and the third stage of the process is to get Parliament to pass the Bill.
What has changed?
Mr. Doh however observed that a positive change in Government’s renewed support for the passage of the Exemptions Bill, could be clearly noticed from its recent actions.
He said, “The good thing in this instance is that the Government itself is at the forefront of this. It isn’t like a one-sided demand from civil society. Because they actually started the process themselves; took it to Parliament themselves; and then there were engagements to get the 2019 Bill reviewed so it can be improved upon before it is laid again as a result of it not being passed in the previous Parliament.
“There has been a great improvement in terms of comparing the 2019 and the 2021 Bill and that is a great plus. You will appreciate the fact that Government is now hot. The deficit they are financing is huge and they need money to bridge that gap. For me, the consolation is that, they are at the forefront of this Bill themselves doing their best to push it so that it would be passed as soon as possible.”
The past should not be used to judge the present
Responding to questions of skeptics about Government’s seeming renewed interest in the Bill, the Tax Advocate indicated that it was time to look forward and to focus on the positives rather than dueling on the negatives in the past.
“What transpired in the past which might have led to a delay or something, should not keep us from analyzing the current situation from a positive perspective. Because if we are glued to what happened in the past without looking at what actions that are being taken now, we might not be doing a fair analysis of the situation.
“The situation now is that the previous Bill was withdrawn and it has been reviewed and resubmitted. If I am to analyze the situation, it shows a positive sign of commitment on their part,” he indicated.
Source: Clement Akoloh||parliamentnews360.com
