Businesses in the Keta Municipality of the Volta region are eagerly awaiting the 2025 budget with high expectations that the government will remove and reduce some taxes.
According to business owners in the area, the current taxes are stifling their growth and making it difficult for them to operate profitably.
Mr. Koffie Agbodzi, a boutique shop owner at Dzelukope, a suburb of Keta, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, expressed his frustration with the current tax system and described the situation as troubling and needed to be address urgently by the current government.
“The numerous taxes imposed on businesses by the previous government are making it difficult for us to compete with other counterparts in other countries, taxes like E-Levy have to be scrapped,” he said.
Mr. Agbodzi appealed to the government to consider abolishing some of the taxes which include betting tax, Covid-19 tax, National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL), GETFund levy, among others to enable businesses and other individuals to thrive.
He emphasised that the reduction or elimination of taxes would not only benefit businesses but also create jobs, opportunities and stimulate economic growth and make it easier for companies to operate, grow and succeed.
Mr. John Avevor, a sports enthusiast, at Vodza-Adzido expressed high hope that the government would eliminate the betting tax to make sports and other betting easier and free for all to enjoy while reducing taxes would also help create new jobs which would reduce unemployment and improve living standards.
He said:”For me, l can boldly tell you that the last time l won a sports bet was somewhere in November 2024, and this betting tax imposed on betting is making it difficult for us. How can the government be so cruel to us like that, am expecting them to scrap it immediately.”
Mr. Anthony Dagadu, an Economist, in an earlier interview with the GNA said that taxes such as betting tax, emission levy, covid 19 levy, E-Levy among others should be abolish for the public to operate businesses with ease.
He expected the government to introduce other flexible taxes to help nation run some policies which include free Senior High School (SHS), free school feeding programmes and others.
He said government should consider expanding local sectors to process and produce more products such as cocoa, sugarcane, rice, cassava, maize in a larger quality and ensure stable and less costly electricity power supply to boost the competitiveness of the economy among others.
Some other business owners in Keta also shared similar sentiments, stating that the high tax burden is affecting their ability to invest in their businesses and expand their operations.
They believed that a reduction in taxes would be a major boost to their businesses and would enable them to contribute meaningfully to the country’s economic development.
Meanwhile, as the government prepares to present the 2025 budget through it Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, on Tuesday, March 11, individuals and business communities in Keta are eagerly waiting to see if their expectations would be met for better livelihood.