I’m only an implementer of policy – GRA boss

Kofi Nti, Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), says his duty is to implement government’s policies, thus, he is unable to tax allowances paid recruits of the Nation’s Builders Corps (NABCO).

Per the GAR tax regulations, allowances are taxable income and in the view of Ghanaians, who have suggested that widening the tax net would enable government rake in enough revenue for developmental projects, and, what is more, be able to realize the ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ vision, it was only justifiable that allowances paid to NABCO recruits were taxed too.

Admitting that, indeed, allowances are taxable income, Kofi Nti, however, gave a sharp answer to save his job, after a question was posed to him by a section of the media at a GAR press soiree in Accra, on why his outfit had failed to tax NABCO recruits whose allowances are above the minimum wage.

“The government has introduced a policy for implementation and I am only an implementer of the policy,” Mr Nti said.

That notwithstanding, he emphasized that the GAR would engage the NABCO recruits more in their regional offices to be able to achieve the 2019 GHȻ45.47 billion revenue target, which, he said, is likely to be reviewed upward.

Mr Nti chronicled a few strategies the GAR had devised to achieve the 2019 revenue target, and these included stepping up activities to plug revenue leakages, intensify its campaign on the need for all those in the tax bracket to own a Tax Identification Number (TIN) and intensify the full implementation of the tax stamp.

In 2018, the GAR was billed to collect GHȻ39.8 billion, however, it could collect GHȻ27.6 billion, and having identified the causes of his outfit’s inability to realize its revenue target, Kofi Nti assured the government that the GAR would be up to the task in 2019.

Story by Umar Sheriff / AwakeNewsOnline.com