Expanding tax net: Authorities urged to design simple solutions for informal sector

A justice at the Court of Appeal, Her Ladyship Cyra Pamela Cynthia A. Koranteng, has advised the Ghana Revenue Authority and other relevant state agencies to design simple tax payment solutions to pull the informal sector into the tax bracket.

Speaking at the second edition of the Society of Women in Taxation (SWIT) Ghana annual conference on August 20, Her Ladyship Cyra Koranteng, who represented the Chief Justice, Her Ladyship Getrude Araba Torkornoo, stated that in addition to issuing a communiqué at the end of the conference, the women tax professional body should recommend strategies to the GRA and Finance Ministry on efficiently taxing the informal sector.

“I urge you to go beyond issuing a communiqué at the end of the conference to share your conference reports with both GRA and the Ministry of Finance, as I believe there would be some novel ideas the government can take advantage of to improve compliance and mobilisation as it strives to build a prosperous and resilient economy,” she said.

Justice Koranteng commended SWIT Ghana for their initiative in sensitising the masses on tax matters to improve compliance, an otherwise male endeavour.

She also called on the Society’s leadership to commit to mentoring and coaching females in the tax profession in order to compete at all levels with their male counterparts.

Chairperson of SWIT Ghana, Madam Esi Duma Sam, reported progress the Society has made so far, two years since its formation, including an improvement in tax compliance among the informal sectors, particularly through their market outreaches.

“When we launched the maiden SWIT conference, our vision was clear: to equip ourselves to support all relevant stakeholders in tax planning, policy planning, and management, inspire one another, and collaborate on solutions to taxation inadequacies that confront us as a country.”

“Over the past year, we have witnessed some progress. We have initiated a program to build a culture of tax consciousness in the informal sector, where women play a dominant role,” she said.

She expressed her gratitude to the Commissioner-General and management team of GRA for their unflinching support, looking forward to more collaboration in the future.

Madam Sam, however, noted some challenges undermining the accomplishment of the mission of the society, including the need for capacity building of its membership as well as partnerships and sponsorships to reach out to identifiable informal sector groups.

She backed Justice Koranteng’s call for a simplified method of tax collection from the informal sector to improve compliance.

“The country’ informal sector employment is made up of micro, small, and medium enterprises, which have no structured work programs. The majority of these people are living with high income insecurity. This poses a difficulty in assessing their income for taxation.”

“In light of the above, there is an urgent need for policymakers to devise effective, equitable, and simple solutions to address this situation to bring in more taxpayers into the revenue collection net,” Madam Sam explained.