Accra, July 11, GNA - Over 25 tax policy professionals passed out from the maiden annual summer school on taxation instituted to develop and strengthen the skills of public officials.

The Summer School was organised with the support of the German International Cooperation and Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs.

The participants drawn from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and Ghana Revenue Authority, were taken through natural resource taxation, environmental and fiscal reforms, taxation of financial services and the management of fiscal policy in an oil economy.

Dr Joe Amoako-Tuffuor, Facilitator of the School, said it aimed to advance the capacity of key personnel to ensure the effective mobilisation and management of resources for economic growth and development.

He said participants were taken through basic concepts and issues such as the nature and essence of taxation, policy issues and practical challenges in tax design and administration.

In addition to the lectures, there were joint team discussions for the participants to discuss and deepen their knowledge on general issues of taxation and contemporary challenges in tax policy-making and tax system design.

Dr Amoako-Tuffuor expressed the hope that the school would become a permanent feature in training public officials in other areas of economic management.

Mr Enoch Cobbinah, Chief Director, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, said rebasing of the national accounts had shown that the country needed to do more in domestic revenue mobilisation and in broadening the tax base to enable government to generate revenue to fund development.

He said despite Ghana's emergence as an oil producing country, tax revenue would continue to be the backbone of domestic revenue mobilisation and, therefore, the need to consistently harness it.

Mr Cobbinah said the Summer School would deal with some of the analytical capacity challenges of frontline staff, who must provide critical inputs in the design of Ghana's tax system.

It would also help to develop an understanding of the analytical tools that are used in addressing the range of oil and gas taxation issues and to fast-track professional development.