Conduct study on Ghanaians’ reluctance to pay tax for development – Chief of Staff urges women tax professionals

The Chief of Staff, Hon. Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, has urged Ghanaians, particularly those in the informal sector, to honour their tax obligations to enable the government to undertake developmental projects in their localities.

Madam Osei-Opare observed that most Ghanaians do not pay taxes yet want their communities to develop, which, according to her, is impossible.

The Chief of Staff said this during the maiden conference of the Society of Women in Taxation (SWIT), a female offshoot of the Chartered Institute of Taxation Ghana (CITG), in Accra on Tuesday.

Speaking on the theme “Taxing the Informal Sector: The Role of Women, the Chief of Staff charged the women tax professionals to go beyond the forum to conduct a survey on why a lot of Ghanaians do not want to pay tax yet insist on development.

“I will want you to go beyond this forum and consider undertaking research to understand why taxation is not so popular. It is not only about the women but why taxation [in general] is not so popular [among Ghanaians], and as our chairperson said, there are a lot of big-time businessmen who do not want to pay tax, so your research can cover beyond just the women but why Ghanaians do not like to pay tax and yet want instant development in our various communities,” she advised.

Madam Osei-Opare added that the research findings from the professional body can assist the Ghana Revenue Authority and the Finance Ministry on their way forward to taxing the informal sector.

While commending the leadership of the Society for the success of the programme, she tasked them with using the conference to develop initiatives that will inspire young ladies to pursue taxation as a profession.

For her part, the Chairperson of SWIT, Madam Esi Duma Sam, said the reason for the formation of the Society is to help educate women, especially in the informal sector, on the need to pay taxes.

According to her, their target is women informal workers because women dominate the sector of the economy, and a woman-to-woman approach will ensure that women income earners dutifully pay their taxes.

“We believe that when we go out and educate the informal sector, not because it is the informal sector alone that does not pay tax, but because our focus will be on women and other places, and as the various speakers said, we need to educate our people more; that is why we formed the Society for Women in Taxation.”