Ghanaians to suffer tax increments on petroleum products

Parliament, Wednesday, approved an emergency Energy Sector Levy Bill even in the face of intense opposition by the minority.

According to the minority in Parliament, the levies will compound the woes of the already burdened Ghanaian.

The Bill which was introduced to the house on Monday, 21st December 2015,  will also imposes a tax of GHC0.05 per litre on diesel and LPG as PIS levy; Ȼ0.05 on petrol as PSM; Ȼ0.05 on petrol as recovery margin, Ȼ40.05 on petrol, diesel and Ȼ0.23/kg on LPG as forex under recovery and UPPF at Ȼ0.09 per litre.

According to the Finance Minister, the urgent bill is to restructure, re- nationalize and consolidate energy sector levies to promote the prudent and efficient utilization of proceeds derived from the levies to facilitate sustainable long-term investments in the energy sector.

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Minority leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said the entire bill was vague, adding that Mr Terpker did not give specific reasons for the imposi­tion of the taxes.

Making reference to government's claims that it had paid off the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) debt, he ques­tioned why another tax was being introduced to pay off the same TOR debt.

"This whole bill has not been explained well to us and that the gov­ernment is forcing it through just to impose more hardship on Ghana­ians," he said.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Tema East, Titus Glover, for his part, did not understand why the government was rushing to pass the bill just to impose more economic hardship on Ghana­ians weeks after it announced increas­es in utility tariffs.

"This government is insensitive and does not feel for Ghanaians."

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The NPP Member of Parliament for Kwadaso, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto told Business Guide that the government had emptied its coffers through careless expenditure and was just scrapping the barrel to balance the books.

"These new taxes will definitely result in higher inflation, high cost of goods, high interests and high cost of living which bring untold hardship to Ghanaians," Dr Afriyie Akoto said.