- February 4, 2020
- Posted by: tjcadmin
- Category: Annual Report, Reports
Oxfam Ghana funded the 2019 Ghana Tax Dialogue Forum.
Moving Ghana beyond Aid as a policy of the current Government of Ghana requires the replacement of aid funds with locally mobilized revenues. In 2019, about73.9%1 of the allocation for capital expenditures in the health sector was expected to come from development partners, 70.3% of projected funding for the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources (MSWR) was also expected to come from donors whilst the main source of funding for education capital expenditures was also to be mobilized from the capital market2. Meanwhile, Africa loses an estimated 41.3 billion3 dollars in financial outflows annually, more than the total development aid that came to the continent. Between 2000 and 2013, Ghana lost US$7.4 billion4 in trade mis-invoicing in trade with US and EU alone. These, among others, show that the country is capable of fully financing its budget if it pays attention to seriously addressing illicit tax schemes and ensuring tax compliance by all citizens and businesses operating within the country to aid the development of the country.
The state has the responsibility of facilitating the provision of essential public goods such as water, education, and health services to all citizens who wish to use the services. However, Government will not be able to deliver on this obligation or provide them at the desired quality without the requisite funds and faithful compliance with tax obligations by both citizens and businesses who also happen to be the end beneficiaries of state development projects. Since the main funding source for all governments is through taxation, non-compliance and inadequate collection of taxes hampers the delivery of public services by the state and denial of urgently needed services to vulnerable communities and groups.
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