Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin countered the Minority’s objections to the government’s tax waiver requests for One District One Factory initiative businesses.
Despite the Minority’s concerns about possible corruption and mismanagement of public funds regarding the proposed $449 million tax exemptions, Afenyo-Markin defended the initiative during his debate on the State of the Nation Address on Monday, March 11, 2024.
He stressed that tax waivers aim to foster economic expansion rather than result in losses for the state.
Afenyo-Markin clarified that tax exemptions are designed as incentives to attract investments.
He highlighted that these exemptions eventually translate into tax credits, benefiting the state in the long run.
“Tax exemptions are used to attract investments, but the NDC is looking at them with a very myopic eye. Let me explain to you that when a government introduces tax exemptions, it is aimed at driving economic growth, and in effect, these tax exemptions become tax credits. It is not for free, so the NDC should not mislead Ghanaians.”
“When a company is investing in our country and we say you are not going to pay taxes for imports of materials and equipment, what it means is that when that is given, it eventually becomes a tax credit, and the state will gain, and this is what the NDC could not do and does not understand” he said.
