The Ghana Plastic Manufacturers Association has threatened to lay down their tools for a week if the government refuses to scrap a five percent tax on locally produced plastic products.
Speaking at a conference held in Accra on Wednesday, June 26, Ebbo Botwe, the President of the association called on Dr.Bawumia to come to meet their demand, or else, would be forced to embark on a strike.
“We are appealing to the vice president, Dr Mahamudu Bawumuia to intervene in this matter because the effect of this consumer tax will really affect the masses, the common man, the common woman will suffer extreme hardship.”
“In conclusion, we ask GRA to stop the harassment of plastic manufacturers and we give the Ministry of Finance one week to respond to our request or we shall have no option but for all plastic manufacturers to shut down production for at least one week and of course, we’ll send home over 30,00 workers”, Ebbo Botwe emphasized.
However speaking at the press, Dr Joseph Obeng, the President of the Ghana Union of Traders’ Association (GUTA) reiterated that, the government is not being fair to the trade market, especially in times where people are facing economic challenges.
“The government is being insensitive to the business community. Let’s defer the implementation of the excise tax. The time is not right and it’s not fair around this time where businesses are suffering from the effects of exchange rates and we are very much aware of this.This is not the time to impose another tax when so many taxes have already been imposed on us, are we saying we do not care about the state of businesses?”, he added.
