A Civic Education Officer of the National Commission for Civic Education, (NCCE), Mr David K Domeh, has urged citizens in the informal sector to be law abiding by paying their taxes promptly to the state.

He said the payment of taxes was a civic responsibility, as the 1992 Constitution enjoined every citizen who earned an income to pay tax, which served as critical revenue for the development of the country.

Mr Domeh was speaking at a sensitisation campaign held for tailors and dressmakers in and around Adobetor Electoral Area at the La Dade-Kotopon in the Greater Accra Region.

The workshop was organised in collaboration with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the NCCE to address the issue of tax evasion by some citizens and also to educate them on the new Digital Tax Stamps on selected excisable products (Act 873, 2013).

Excise tax stamps shall be fixed on mineral bottled water and other forms of package water, but not on sachet water.

Carbonated drinks, beer, wine, alcohol spirit, cigarettes and other tobacco products, among other would also be stamped.

Mr Domeh said over the years, considerable revenues had been lost through illicit trade, smuggling of goods under declaration of both imported and locally produced goods and that the GRA had introduced the digital tax stamps in order to address such problems.

There are three categories of tax stamps, which are the Beverage category, Tobacco category and the Spirit Category.

“Each of these categories has a different tax stamp for domestic and a different one for tax stamp for import,” he said. “Any manufacturer or importer of excisable good can register at the office of GRA and must also have a Tax Identification Number (TIN).”

Officers of the GRA shall conduct periodic visits to manufacturing and trade premises for purpose of monitoring and verifying the use and genuineness of the excise tax stamp and anyone who contravened the (Act 873, 2013) Act shall be liable to prosecution.

Mrs Joana A Nkansah, Deputy Director for Programmes at the NCCE, Greater Accra Region, who spoke on the TIN, also advised the artisans to register and pay their taxes as well.

Meanwhile, the TIN registration can be done in all GRA offices nationwide or on the website: www.gra.gov.gh for free.