The Association of Customs Housing Agents Ghana (ACHAG) has advised the government against the imposition of new taxes on activities at the ports as the only way of getting revenue for the state.

Mr. Yaw Kyei, the President of ACHAG, said over-taxation was affecting business at the ports, adding the Association was not expecting the introduction of new taxes on the clearing of goods in the upcoming mid-year budget review.

Sharing ACHAG’s expectations with the Ghana News Agency, he said the port was already overburdened with so many taxes, duties, levies, and other fees.

Mr. Kyei said, “The situation at the port is such that the taxes are so high, and therefore the temptation of clients, customs officers, and agents is to avoid the payment of these taxes.

“I am not saying this should be the situation, but as human as we are, if these taxes are so much, there is this intrinsic motivation for some of these people to avoid their payment.”

He said that though they were aware that the government depended largely on such import fees to finance its projects, they were also of the view that the existing ones were already quite high, a situation which was affecting consumers.

He added that the ports were quite and they could confidently say that about 40 percent of Ghana’s imports were not realized at the recognized points of entry, adding that a lot of the goods were not coming in from the Eastern, Western, and Northern borders, or the sea ports and the airport, but were rather being smuggled in to avoid taxes.

According to him, even though the traffic at the port had reduced, the goods were still on the market, an indication that smuggling was being done through unapproved routes.

He, therefore, called on the government to strengthen its border areas and arrest some of these smugglers to save a lot of money for the national coffers.

ACHAG also called on the government to widen its tax net by requiring other professions to pay tax such as retailers of goods and traders.

He added that even though they did not expect the government to tax them heavily, it was about time that they were encouraged to pay taxes to support the development of the country instead of the over taxation of the same people.

“We expect a lot of professionals who don’t pay taxes to start, such as retailers who buy and sell in small quantities in the market and on tables; they must cultivate the culture to pay taxes,” he stated.

He called for vigorous education programmes for such persons on the need for them to pay taxes and their importance to the country’s economy and development, adding that building a nation to a very large extent depended on the taxes that citizens pay.

He also suggested that the government should consider shifting its focus from imports and putting in measures to expand its export base by investing in manufacturing, as that was another way of sustaining the economy.