A Tax Consultant has dismissed the assertion that the 50 per cent reduction in benchmark value and the 30 per cent on vehicle import will have a negative effect on government revenue.

According to Abdallah Ali Nakyea, the impact will not be huge because it is not an across board policy that will apply to all imports. 

He made the comment in an interview after a forum on Tax and Good Governance in Accra.

The Tax and Good Governance forum is a campaign launched by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to sensitize the public about the need to file their income tax to support government revenue mobilization.

Many have argued that the reduction in the benchmark value of 50 per cent will have a negative impact on revenue generation for the government after its implementation.

But Ali Nakyea disagrees, he said, “When you look at the initiative, it is not applying to all goods that have their value on them from the original home country and this makes it a bit minimal to have an impact.”

He added, “For the short term maybe yes, but the long term benefit could be more than what will be lost in the short term.”

Acting Assistant Commissioner and Head of Customs Technical Services Bureau, Julius Kantum advised importers to be loyal during goods declaration to avoid delay.

“Let’s be truthful in whatever we have as cargo so that we don’t cause the officials to raise an alarm which could lead to delaying the clearance process. When you get to the clearing stage, state everything that you have without omitting others,” he said.

Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Kasoa Small Taxpayer office, Vivian Shika Omolumo urged revenue officers to fast-track tax payment processes to avoid delay in the various GRA offices.

The GRA used the occasion to call on all taxpayers to file their returns using the recently launched online platform or file at the offices of the Domestic Tax Division.