A Research analyst at the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), has welcomed the latest Afrobarometer report which revealed that majority of Ghanaians are willing to help make the country a better place through the payment of taxes.

According to Godfred Asaimah, "72% of the citizens that participated in the survey are willing to pay taxes even when over 90% of them are doubtful of those collecting the taxes and a significant proposition is even not aware of exactly what the taxes are been used for."

His comment follows a survey conducted by Afrobarometer to which revealed eight out of 10 citizens (79%) citizens agree that authorities have the right to demand taxes, less than two out of 10 (15%).

Parliament in its 2021 budget statement introduced new taxes, attributing most of it to the unforeseen developments that characterized the advent of the novel coronavirus.

These include a 1% Covid-19 levy added to the VAT and a 1% addition to the National Health Insurance
Levy (NHIL).

These increments were vehemently resisted by a section of the public including the Minority in Parliament who described the imposition as regressive and will impose further hardship on citizens.

Meanwhile, an Afrobarometer survey by CDD-Ghana indicated that Ghanaians endorse taxation and are willing to pay higher taxes to support the country’s development.

The survey further indicated that a majority of citizens say it is difficult to find out what taxes and fees they are supposed to pay and how the government uses tax revenues.

Speaking on Top Story, Mr Asaimah indicated that government must come out with a plan to ensure that all citizens participate in paying taxes, through education

"They need to know how much they are due to pay, it must come at a low cost, people want to see the corruption we find in the system reduced because they can’t pay their money for it to be taken out by a few people so they want the authority to improve its image in terms of anti-corruption and the things they put in place to make sure that the taxes that we collect do not go down the drain," he told Evans Mensah.