Tax defaulters to face sanctions

The Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority has warned that the authority will take very stern actions against taxpayers who fail to clear their tax liabilities.

Mr George Blankson did not state the exact punishment for the tax offenders but  said “We would do so in a manner that would not cause so much grief but would ensure that we have all the laws applied and enforced to recover all debts.”

The GRA boss was speaking at the inauguration of the Debt Management and Compliance Unit of the authority in Accra.

Among other things, the unit is expected to facilitate information sharing among departments; create a uniform organisational approach to debt recovery and compliance and promote voluntary compliance by instituting measures that will render non-compliance unattractive.

The unit, he said, was not meant to duplicate the work of the various Enforcement and Debt Management Units (EDMs) of the Domestic Tax Revenue and Customs Divisions but rather to  coordinate debt management and compliance activities and support debt management and enforcement units in the outfield offices to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness.

He noted that the unit had become necessary because of the rising level of taxpayers debt stock.
“We believe the debt stock level we have, if not checked, now will go out of line and there is the need for us to institute the necessary measures to ensure that we recover all our debts—debts owed by taxpayers to the GRA.”

To the officials of the new unit, he said “You have been selected to join the unit as a result of your depth of experience, dedication and commitment to the cause of GRA. Apply yourselves to the task and work assiduously to justify the confidence reposed in you.”

“Even though your job of managing and recovering debt and enforcing compliance, is not a bed of roses, it is my firm belief that you will rise to the occasion and prove yourselves equal to the task,” he added.

In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP), Mr Kwabena Duffuor, said it was necessary for the unit be given extensive powers to make it more effective in the discharge of its functions and meet the aims for which it was established.

According to him, globally, but with particular reference to developing countries, debt management and debt recovery had always posed serious challenges to tax administrators because few citizens had cultivated voluntary compliance as a habit.

“For a greater majority of individuals and organisations in Ghana, voluntary compliance is not part of their tax culture, hence the accumulation of tax arrears. It is therefore a step in the right direction for the management of GRA to bring new insights into the administration of tax in Ghana by setting up the DMCE Unit,” he said.
He also appealed to the staff of the unit not to use the powers given them arbitrarily but to always use the powers in accord with the slogan of the GRA which is integrity, fairness and service.

“It is pertinent to remind you that there is always the tendency to compromise the ethics of your profession for personal gains by virtue of the exercise of the powers granted you. However, I encourage you to hold onto the principles of integrity, while at the same time being fair to the numerous taxpayers you will come into contact with in your service delivery,” he stated.