The Bottled Water Producers of the National Association of Sachet and Packaged Water Producers say they will on March 5 meet to decide a possible shutdown if the tax stamp regime negatively affects their productivity.

This decision was reached on Wednesday after a meeting to ascertain if members were ready for the implementation of the Tax Stamp Policy.

It was confirmed that none of the member companies of the Association has been able to acquire the tax affixing machine as of the eve of the implementation of the policy.

The Ghana Revenue Authority introduced the Excise Tax Stamp as part of measures to check tax evasion at production points.

The policy, which has been slated to come into effect on Thursday, March 1, requires manufacturing companies to acquire tax stamp machines but the Bottled Water Producers in a press release say “members are not in a position to acquire the machine”.

They say they have resolved in their meeting to access the government tax stamp affixing machine in Tema in the meantime.

However, they say there are some looming inconveniences that will negatively affect their business for which reason they will meet again on Monday to assess the situation and shut down if need be.