A study by the GIZ Governance for Inclusive Development (GovID) has shown that Religious and traditional leaders are ideally positioned to shape public behavior and opinion on fulfilling civic duties such as paying taxes.
The study highlighted that the involvement of the religious and traditional leaders will offer the government an additional channel of communication with the public to improve tax compliance and, thus, better achieve its revenue targets.
It further noted that this will also allow communities of faith to voice their interests and concerns on public revenue and spending and political actors to address citizens’ concerns and discuss their policy priorities.
Commenting on the study, Raphael Frerking, Programme Manager, Governance for Inclusive Development (GovID) – GIZ Ghana, said the traditional and religious leaders and their role in taxpayer education had been ignored.
He said the baseline study, however, showed that religious actors have a key role to play in the revenue mobilization drive.
“We found that the trust many citizens place in them makes them interesting stakeholders that can also play a crucial role in increased tax compliance in emphasizing the linkages between tax payments, accountability, and successful governance”.
Raphael Frerking
Additionally, Raphael Frerking said “we realized that an enhanced dialogue between state actors and religious communities could build on the good and peaceful relations between religious and ethnic groups that Ghana rightfully takes pride in, while at the same time helping to preserve social cohesion and internal peace for the future”.
He said while religious leaders are willing to ‘tie the knot’ with GRA in Taxpayer Education, they needed to enhance continuous capacity on Tax Payers Education, Knowledgeable resource persons and active engagement with the GRA and MMDAs.
GRA needs to customize materials for different segments
The study noted that GRA was making good progress with its communications materials but needed to customize materials for different segments of the population such as the communities of faith and develop messaging that can engage effectively with the youth on social media.
The study, ‘Promoting Accountable Governance through Active Engagement with Religious Actors on National and Local Level Taxes’ is to establish an ongoing dialogue on public revenue and public spending between religious leaders, the revenue administration, and other relevant political actors at the national and local levels.
The study examined how religious and traditional leaders could be used to support the mobilization of domestic revenue in Ghana. Revenue mobilization remains a major challenge facing the government as it continues to miss revenue targets every year.
Due to the recent economic challenges and their impacts on firms and households, the previous revenue and grants target of GH₵100.5 billion for 2022 has been revised to GH₵96.8 billion, a 3.7% reduction. This still translates into a growth target of 37% relative to the 2021 performance (GH₵70.9 billion).
The revised target is expected to be achieved mainly as a result of the windfall in revenue from oil production and exports, a result of increased global oil prices. The government expects this will help to significantly offset shortfalls from other revenue sources, particularly tax revenues.
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