Professor Peter Quartey is the Director of ISSER

The Director of the Institute for Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), Professor Peter Quartey, has observed that Ghana’s taxes are too high, creating opportunities for evasion and abuse of the system.

He noted that the current tax structure, particularly the Value Added Tax (VAT) system, places a heavy burden on businesses and hampers effective revenue collection.

According to him, the system disproportionately benefits the wealthy while overburdening the poor.

Speaking at the Graphic Ecobank Economic Forum, Professor Quartey said, “Our tax levels are too high, in my view. Our VAT is over 21%. Some are even straight levies on which you cannot claim input tax. But look at our competitors, on average, they pay 15% or 18%, and we are charging more than 21%. What this does is encourage people to evade taxes,” he warned.

“When your taxes are too high, you encourage tax evasion. You end up enriching customs officials and businessmen, while the government continues to struggle to raise revenue,” he emphasised.

He further pointed out that the problem is exacerbated by the largely informal nature of Ghana’s economy, which makes it difficult to track and penalise tax evaders.

“Over 80% of our economy is informal. We have not developed an effective mechanism to tax the informal sector. All we do is focus on the 20% in the formal sector. Why should we overtax this 20% while ignoring the 80%?” he questioned.

On the issue of broadening the tax net, he stressed the need for government to implement practical strategies to bring the informal sector into the tax fold.

“We need to take a critical look at this. Otherwise, we will not make significant progress in tax revenue mobilisation, and that’s why we keep borrowing. We're not raising enough revenue,” he added.

SSD/MA