Executive Director at Parliamentary Network Africa (PNAfrica), Sammy Obeng, has revealed that the implementation of the property rates by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is long overdue.
According to him, although much has not been seen with the utilization of monies accrued from taxation, he is hopeful that this time round it will be put to proper use. He indicated that Ghanaians have an obligation to continue to pay taxes and equally have a duty to call duty bearers to do better with the resources that are provided for them.
Mr Obeng stated that despite the possiblity that holding leaders accountable to revenue accrued might be seen as disrespectful or being anti-government, Ghanaians must be resolute in their demands because people are going through a lot to be able to make some purchases.
“The bit about property rates, [it’s] long overdue. Successive periods have not seen to ensuring that these monies are collected efficiently. Hopefully, this process will see to some efficiency. But what’s the level of education that people are being given on the payments, valuation and who is supposed to be doing the payment?
“What will we be seeing beyond the payment of these property rates as the developments that we get to see in our communities because we pay some of these rates… Will they be going back to funding luxurious living of other people while other people wabble in poverty? That should not be the case at all.”
Sammy Obeng
Mr Obeng explained that because the “public purse” has been entrusted to persons within government, they must be held accountable with what they do with such monies. He stated that when government messes up the economy, mismanages its resources and fail in its endeavor to protect the public purse, citizens must call them out.
The executive director of PNAfrica emphasized that taxpayers pay huge monies to the government especially with the tax and levy component on goods and services. He noted that the justification sometimes given by government for not prudently using funds does not augur well for development in the country.
“It’s very sad and whenever we speak about these matters, we are pointed to the fact that the other countries where we love to cite as an example have their people paying huge taxes. That’s very much true but they also have their people benefiting from a society that is using their taxes well… Because you’re a taxpaying citizen or your parents pay taxes or contributing to the development of the community, when something goes wrong with you, society will actually come to your aid through systems that have been put into place. That is why we must continually call people out when they decide to mess up with our economies.”
Sammy Obeng
Meanwhile, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development and the Lands Commission, has collected data required to bill all properties in the country.
GRA to efficiently implement property rates
The list and details of more than 8.87 million properties, codified into the Unified Common Property Rate Platform, also known as Myassembly.gov.gh, to enable property owners to verify their rates and pay same, comes with their valuations, owners and other details.
However, 76 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) have provided the rates or levies for the various properties (imposts), which will form the basis for the first phase of the end-to-end district revenue collection and administration platform designed to enhance the collection of and accounting for property rates.
According to the GRA, rate payers in the 76 MMDAs have been given the opportunity to verify and recommend amendments, where necessary, before the rolled-out.
The platform, which is also linked to the Ghana.gov.gh payment platform, is currently the sole payment platform for the payment of property rate with effect from January 2023.
Hitherto, property rate was collected by revenue collectors of the various MMDAs, which was not efficient. A 10-year trend analysis indicated that the assemblies together collected just about GH¢500 million over the period.
However, by the new system, should the assemblies charge just GH¢200 per property, the country can rake in GHc1.77 billion a year, and with a minimum of GH¢300, the assemblies can generate GH¢2.66 billion from properties a year, while a GH¢400 rate will bring in GH¢3.55 billion a year from property rate.
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