The Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana (IEAG) and the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL) have called for a re-engagement on the recently passed revenue bills before the President’s assent.

Just before its recession, Parliament passed three new revenue taxes; Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2022, the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill 2022, and the Income Tax Amendment Bill 2022, which is currently awaiting presidential assent for its implementation.

The IEAG and the GFL have however called on the President not to assent to the bill as it was against the interests of the growth of businesses, both manufacturers and importers.

Mr Samson Asaki Awingobit, the Executive Secretary of the IEAG, and Mr Abraham Koomson, Secretary General of the GFL, were speaking respectively on the topics, “Perspective of Importers and Exporters on the three newly approved taxes,” and “What makes the three new taxes bad from the perspective of organised labour.”

They said this when they appeared on the Ghana News Agency-Tema Industrial News Hub Boardroom discussions, which provides the platform for both state and non-state organisations to deliberate on national topic issues.

Mr Awingobit said, “We want to engage the President, “this is the only tax bill that collectively all business organisations have come together to oppose, therefore the President must take it seriously.”

He said should the President go ahead and sign, the business community would meet and decide the way forward and what actions to take, as implementing the bills would lead to suffering for businesses, government revenue, and the public.

Mr Koomson, for his part, said since the government did not engage the unions and businesses before pushing for the passage of the bill, it would not even rake in a quarter of the projected annual revenue of GHS 4 billion it hopes to collect.

He said it was not too late for the President to hold on to the assent, as doing so against the will of the people would backfire and not benefit the economy.

He described it as unfortunate that the Members of Parliament passed the bill even though they petitioned them on the consequences of such taxes, reiterating that it would lead to the folding up of many companies and the redundancy of workers who were members of labour unions such as the GFL.

According to him, already workers were being laid off and businesses were folding up due to the unfavourable economic situation in Ghana, therefore adding all three would compound issues.