Vice Presidential candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr. Bawumia has lambasted the Mahama led government for its incessant penchant to tax almost every and anything.
He has observed that if the government finds a way, it will even impose taxes on the air Ghanaians breathe.
The renowned Economist while addressing students and lecturers of the E.P. College of Education, Amedzofe in the Volta region, Wednesday pointed out that the current slump in the economy had been occasioned by the government’s mismanagement, corruption and incompetence.
Dr Bawumia noted that in the government’s desperate bid to find a way out, it has resorted to imprudently imposing taxes on every conceivable item.
“In response to the reckless management of our country’s economy and resources, which has led Ghana back to the doorsteps of the IMF, the government resorted to imposing taxes on every conceivable item in attempt to raise resources to fill the deep hole their incompetence and corruption had dug.”
“In their desperation to fill the hole they have dug, the government imposed taxes on condoms, cutlasses, savings; today they are imposing taxes on pensions and allowances. Anything they think they can impose taxes on, they are imposing taxes on it – even if they think they could impose taxes on the air we breathe today, they would have imposed taxes on it,” he said.
Dr. Bawumia noted that as a result of the desperation to raise revenue, chiefly because the government’s reckless borrowing and corruption had created a huge hole, the government was failing to see the dangers their unquenchable thirst for taxes were spelling for the economy.
“In so doing, they do not even understand that this is actually hurting the economy but they are so desperate for revenue that they are not even thinking about the economy”, he said.
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