The Minority Group in Ghana’s Parliament has cautioned the President Akufo-Addo led Government to remove what it terms as ‘nuisance taxes’ on fuel to bring down the escalating prices of fuel in the country or face their wrath in Parliament.
According to the group, the erroneous claims by Government that the recent hikes in fuel prices in the country is as the result of world market prices is not true. It rather blames the hikes on Government’s padding of the petroleum prices with nuisance taxes which it claims to have reduced.
Addressing the press in Parliament on Tuesday, October 26, 2021, the Ranking Member on the Energy Committee, John Abu Jinapor indicated that the almost 13 percent increment in fuel prices cannot be attributed to world crude oil prices and served notice that, it will use the necessary parliamentary processes to reverse these draconian decisions.
“The attempt by Government to blame world market prices of crude for this high fuel cost is untenable. Following the additional increment of the Energy Sector Recovery Levy of 20 Pesewas, and introduction of the Sanitation and Pollution Levy of 10 Pesewas in the 2021 budget as well as increment in the fuel margins prices by about 12.48 percent,” he observed.
According to Mr. Jinapor, despite the claim by the Government that it has reduced taxes and levies in the petroleum sector, the facts pointed to a complete opposite to the claim.
“Let me provide you with incontrovertible facts on the levies and taxes. i) Energy Debt Recovery Levy has been increased by 20%; ii) Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy up by 40%; iii) The Unified Petroleum Pricing Formula has been increased by 164%; iv) BOST margin has increased from 3 Pesewas to 9 Pesewas representing 200% increase; v) The fuel marking margin levy has also been increased by another 233%.
“This is against the background that the volume of petroleum products consumed has increased by 35% from 4 billion liters to 5.5 billion liters.
The Minority Group further sent a strong signal to the Government that it will not accept any further tax increases or new tax handles in the 2022 budget since this was not what the NPP Government promised prior to the 2020 elections.
The Minority suggested that, in order to ensure that the consumer is cushioned and have some respite, “The Special Petroleum Tax imposed on petroleum products must be suspended in the 2022 budget to provide some respite for Ghanaians from the agonizing high cost of fuel at the pump. We make this demand because crude prices which was pegged at a bench-mark price of $54.75 dollar per barrel in the 2021 budget statement has risen to over $85. Representing an increment of over 55 percent.”
The Ranking Member also called for the review of the sanitation levy by resorting to the polluter pay mechanism which according to him, is a more pragmatic way of managing the country’s waste.
“It is untenable to tax the ordinary fuel consumers since the consumption of same does not contribute to the waste being generated daily,” he observed.
Source: Clement Aakoloh||parliamentnews360.com
