The New Patriotic Party presidential candidate Nana Akuffo Addo has said his administration will abolish VAT on real estate transactions as a “systematic, focused effort to restructure the Ghanaian economy.
He said he is also going to reduce the VAT charges for micro and small enterprises from 17.5% to original 3% rate .
At a meeting with the Trade Union Congress on Monday, where he paid a courtesy call on the workers union to outline his party’s vision of saving the Ghanaian economy if given the chance on December 7, 2016, the former foreign affairs minister said:
“We intend to abolish duties on the imports of raw materials and manufacturing equipment. We are going to abolish VAT on real estate transactions, and reduce VAT for micro and small enterprises from the current 17.5% to the 3% Flat Rate VAT introduced by the NPP.
"All these are being put in place to stimulate production, which will address the issue of unemployment, job losses and also for the rapid development of our economy,” he added.
The New Patriotic Party has criticised the ruling National Democratic Congress for collapsing industries and small scale businesses with high rate of taxes, saying it has increased the burden on the private sector and is a disincentive to production.
The NPP, in its 2016 election manifesto, has promised to shift the focus of economic policy away from the taxation to production and further promises to introduce tax incentives that will ensure growth of industries.
It further promises tha NPP when given the mandate to govern the country,it will reduce corporate tax rate from 25% to 20% and as well remove import duties on raw materials and machinery for production with the context of the ECOWAS Common External tariff.
“We will put in place a “systematic, focused effort to restructure the Ghanaian economy – to take it out from just being a raw material producing economy, to an economy that is based on value addition, industrial activity and wealth creation," Nana Addo added.
The TUC, on the other hand, has lauded the flag bearers visit and has also extolled the 72 years old lawyer for the maturity he displayed in preserving Ghana’s peace, in the aftermath of the disputed 2012 presidential election.
By Fiifi Abdul Malik @fiifialmaestro on twitter
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