Dr. Joseph Obeng, President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), is urging the government to urgently reform the country’s Value Added Tax (VAT) system, warning that its current structure significantly drives up the cost of doing business.
Speaking in an interview with Bernard Avle on The Point of View on Channel One TV on Wednesday, May 14, Dr. Obeng highlighted the urgent need to overhaul the VAT regime before the 2025 national budget is presented in November.
“We have to revise the VAT, we have to restructure. The cascading effect of VAT is one major factor in costing. And it is not affecting it [businesses] positively,” he stated.
Dr. Obeng noted that Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson had earlier pledged to set up a task force to address VAT-related concerns, but so far, no progress has been made.
“The finance minister, Dr Ato Forson, promised they were going to form a taskforce to work on this, but we haven’t gotten any meeting to that effect for us to make our inputs. They should fast-track before the November 2025 budget,” he stressed.
He emphasized that stakeholder engagement is essential and urged the government to act swiftly to realign the tax system in a way that supports entrepreneurship and fosters economic resilience.
