Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has disclosed that out of the 30.8 million Ghanaians, only 2.3 million Ghanaians paid taxes as at August 2021.
He made this known during the presentation of the 2022 Budget Statement in Parliament: “Out of the total population of 30.8 million, only 2,364,348 persons are bearing the burden of the entire population as taxpayers as of August, 2021.”
He added that only 1,643,839 persons are captured by SSNIT as active contributors to Tier 1 pensions, and 2,107,322 as active contributors to Tier 2 as of June 2021.
Due to this phenomenon, the government has decided to devise strategies to widen the tax net. Among the strategies is the introduction of the 1.75% electronic transaction tax which has been placed on Mobile Money and other electronic transaction.
The Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta presented the 2022 budget today Wednesday, November, 17th 2021.
It had previously been scheduled for November 15, 2021, however, the Second Deputy Speaker, Mr Andrew Asiamah Amoako, (Ind., Fomena) announced the date reversal on Wednesday and said the House will have other important events to attend on November 15.
The presentation of the budget is by Article 179 of the 1992 Constitution and section 21 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921).
