Appiah Adomako, the Country Director of CUTS International, believes that Parliament should call on the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, to account for the money that has accrued to the country as a result of the different taxes levied on petroleum products.
He claims that this will ensure responsibility when it comes to the numerous levies imposed on petroleum goods.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on the country’s escalating fuel prices, he urged that some of the country’s petroleum levies be examined and those determined to have outlived their purpose abolished to provide some relief to consumers.
He believes that until such a measure is implemented, particularly by Parliament, a tax like the COVID-19 charge will continue to exist long after Ghana’s war with COVID-19 is over.
“Parliament needs to call the Finance Minister and tell him you came to us that we needed this recovery levy. Tell us how much has been received and what is the plan and per projections, when do we expect to pay it off so that these taxes do not become a permanent feature in our tax handles,” he said.
“For instance, on the COVID-19 levy, COVID may go and the 1% COVID levy on VAT may transmogrify into another tax, and it will never go off,” he added.
While petrol prices are projected to go up by GH¢1.24/litre which is an 11.41% increase, the price of diesel may increase by GH¢1.43/litre depicting a 12.93% increase.
The average price of petrol and diesel at the pumps currently stands at an average of GH¢10.20 and GH¢12.282, respectively.
The development has affected the prices of most commodities and services, leading many to face dire economic situations.
While the government says the rising cost of fuel is mainly due to the cedi’s depreciation against the US dollar and the Russia-Ukraine war, some analysts have called on the government to consider scrapping some of its taxes on petroleum products.
“In most countries whenever they are bringing special taxes, they have a timeline for the taxes and when it will expire because by their estimation, they are certain on when they will have settled but here, taxes seem to remain forever and that is why Parliament needs to be careful anytime they want to permit government to come in with new taxes,” he noted.
He further suggested that the government must find a way to merge bulk oil distributors and oil marketing companies as a way of ensuring that only a single margin is slapped on the final product instead of the BOST margin and OMC margins slapped on every litre of fuel.
