Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, has disclosed that government will soon begin showing Ghanaians what their taxes are being used for.
According to him, plans are underway to mount billboards, which will display some of the projects government has embarked on across the country.
Speaking at a Town Hall Meeting in the United Kingdom over the weekend, he emphasized that the move is a mechanism for people to be encouraged to pay their taxes.
“We have decided to mount billboards across the country, showing the people what their taxes are being used for. The greatest measure you can introduce to improve tax compliance is for people to know that when they pay the taxes, they are not wasted. So very soon, we have taken videos and photos of iconic projects that have been done by the government and we are going to place them at vantage points across the country with the inscription, “your tax working for you”, so that people will know that we don’t take the taxes and throw them somewhere. We use the taxes to develop, to provide educational, health and road infrastructure.”
Dr. Amin Adam also added that beginning July, he will together with the GRA go round and educate people for better understanding of the tax system in Ghana.
“We’ve noticed that people do not understand our tax system generally and some people have differential levels of understanding and so we have decided that we will have to do mass education on our tax system. This July, I have set it aside as tax education month where I will lead the entire tax staff of our country to the field, moving from company to company and market to market to educate people on our tax system and what steps people need to take to pay their taxes and file their tax returns.”
