Minority Leader Dr. Cassiel Ato-Forson continues his diatribe on the government’s 2024 budget statement, saying some of the tax exemptions are useless after tagging the State of the Union as empty.
The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, announced several measures to allay the fears of Ghanaians during the presentation of the 2024 Budget in Parliament last Wednesday.
Relief measures prioritized by the government include an extension of the zero rate of VAT on locally manufactured African prints, exemptions from taxes on locally produced sanitary napkins and locally assembled cars, electric vehicles and This includes exemption from import duties on agricultural machinery.
To address environmental issues, Ofori-Atta also announced the government’s plans to expand environmental excise taxes to cover plastic packaging, industrial emissions and motor vehicle emissions.
But speaking on Monday Edition, PM Express Analyzing each of the tax cuts announced in the budget on JoyNews, MP Ajumako Enyang-Esiam singled out the import duty exemption for electric vehicles, calling it wasteful.
In the lawmaker’s view, only a handful of Ghanaians have electric vehicles in the country and there are very few electric charging ports available for users.
“Let me just say this: I don’t know how many electric cars there are in Ghana. Where are the charging ports? How many Ghanaians will benefit from that? It’s useless,” he said. I did.
This is to promote the use of semi-knockdown electric vehicles. We live in an economy that struggles to even get electricity. How many electric cars are there in Ghana now that they can say we exempt electric cars from tax? I don’t own a car. Then go out and hear from people. “As a Member of Parliament, I do not know of any individual or public transport operator who owns an electric vehicle,” he reiterated.
He told host Evans Mensah that while the policy may be in anticipation of future changes, it currently serves no useful purpose and will not benefit Ghanaians in any way. he said.
He said the government first needs to focus on creating an environment where people can suddenly use electric cars.
βSo it’s probably looking to the future, but it’s not giving ordinary Ghanaians anything right now. The first thing the government has to do is create an enabling environment for electric vehicles. [Tax waiver] Not. What creates a valid environment is access to the charging port.
So if you bring your electric car here and start using it, where are the charging ports if you travel to Ajumako and for some reason need to charge your car? Which gas station should you park your electric car in? Can you charge it?” the lawmaker asked.
If they all are not available and they start saying they will give exemptions to people who bring in vehicles, then first I have to use that vehicle here in Ghana to see if I can definitely use it. “The government is out of touch with the reality on the ground and is doing the opposite,” he argued.
βThe first thing we need to do is create an environment for some fuel stations to convert their pumps into charging points and for ordinary Ghanaians to benefit from that,β he said. .
In September 2023, Ghana’s Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, revealed that the government is working on a policy framework to transition public transport from dependence on petroleum fuels to electric vehicles.
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