Mr AL-Latif Tetteh Amanor, the District Chief Executive for Ningo-Prampram District Assembly, has charged leaders to use education as a major tool to make tax payments more acceptable and attractive to residents.
He said the Assembly relied on tax revenue to fund operations and finance developmental projects hence the need for residents to endeavour to honour their tax obligations towards the development of the area.
Mr Amanor said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of a community engagement forum organised to explain the operations of the assembly to residents and stakeholders.
The Ningo-Pramram DCE described tax paying as the lifeblood of the district, adding that tax revenues formed the critical component of the Assembly’s economic and fiscal policy at large.
“The people will have to be educated on the need to pay their taxes and also help to mobilize and generate resources to enable the assembly to initiate more projects.
“When they saw me in the rain at Mataheko and Mobole where I spoke with them on why they should pay their taxes and avoid building on waterways, they were very happy and some changed their minds on the sport, so education is key,” he added.
The DCE revealed that if all income earners would pay the right amount of tax, the assembly could gain weight in its revenue generation to support its objectives such as building roads, schools, better salaries for workers and improving the assembly’s non-physical projects and services.
Mr Amanor, therefore, appealed to all leaders in the district, especially the Assembly Members and Unit Committee Members in the various Electoral Areas, across the district, to educate their subjects on the need for them to pay their taxes.
He noted that the assembly had rolled out a series of policies for its revenue drive but the residents were reluctant, therefore, vigorous education would solve the challenge.
Mr Amanor said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was focused on delivering the good governance environment required to improve the well-being of Ghanaians.
He, therefore, emphasized the need to contribute through taxes and levies, adding that the number of schools under the school feeding programme and others in the district had increased substantially, and it could only be better through revenue collection and collaboration.
Mrs Ayorkor Ayayee, the District Budget Analyst, also indicated that the Assembly failed to achieve its financial target for the first quarter of the year.
She said the Assembly’s monitoring task force would vigorously be on-site from July to enforce the payment of all taxes and all defaulters would be prosecuted accordingly.
