Businesses in the country should brace themselves for the seamless payment of taxes online without succumbing to the strenuous process of queuing.
Vice President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia ecstatically revealed this promise as part of the incumbent government’s effort to get a second chance at ruling the country.
According to him, this effort is in consonance with government’s efforts at streamlining and by extension digitalizing all sectors within the country.
At the official launch of the NPP manifesto at Cape Coast, Dr. Bawumia stated that this new development will make it easier to monitor the payment of taxes by Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).
“We want to introduce regulatory flexibility for MSMEs in their compliance because there’s so much hustle under the current dispensation that we see for many MSMEs in complying with taxation. So we want to introduce a simplified tax regime for MSMEs with a very flexible one and make sure they can pay their taxes online. So that tax collectors from GRA cannot come in and harass them for non-payment of taxes. In fact, we would totally discourage payment of tax or levies in cash. You will do it on your mobile phone through mobile money,” he announced.
Additionally, Dr. Bawumia also pitched in the introduction of an exclusive identification to appropriately track businesses and their operations.
“We’re going to introduce a single business identifier. Just as you have for individuals with a National ID card, you’ll have that for businesses so that across interaction with government, there’s one number. And that can easily be done because when you register a business, there is one number anyway. A business registration number is given so that doesn’t require new registration. We’ll just make sure that is your unique identifier.”
Conversely, the Vice President addressed some pertinent challenges with power supply and illegal connection by promising to institute a remote sensing technology to reduce cost of electricity.
“We would also want to reduce the cost of power. This is a major problem for businesses. We have so much in losses from ECG; about 40% of the power that is produced is lost from ECG and also from transmission. And we’re going to introduce new technology from the ECG perspective. We’ve piloted a new remote sensing technology which is working very beautifully and we’re going to begin implementation. With this remote sensing technology, it will no longer be possible to steal power from ECG and we will make sure we reduce the cost of power for everybody to enjoy,” he stated.
In addressing the issue of power theft, Vice President disclosed that the power distributor will soon implement a new system to prevent people from engaging in illegal connection.
“This app also enhances revenue collection because I’ve been talking to the Board Chairman and the MD that they should really be thinking about applying technology, i.e. artificial intelligence and remote sensors which sounds a bit complicated but it’s very simple in the collection process. I know that they are piloting a system now and by the grace of God, if all goes well, we would have implemented a new system starting this year whereby nobody will be able to steal electricity in Ghana again.”
