National Communications Officer for the National Democratic Congress, Sammy Gyamfi says government must reduce taxes on petroleum to cushion the Ghanaian consumer.
Speaking in an interview monitored by ATL FM NEWS on GTV, he indicated that vehicle owners and drivers are in business to make profit and if they are buying fuels for their vehicles and the prices for these commodities goes up, the reasonable thing to do is to allow them to also adjust their transport fares accordingly.
This, he said increases the plight of ordinary citizens and thus called on government to reduce the taxes which he believes will help reduce the prices of fuel.
He emphasized saying “we must learn to cut our coat according to the size of our clothes; let us live within our means and cut down on the wastage, on the consumption related expenditure. If President Akufo Addo should scrap the needless sanitation levy today, the price of diesel and petrol will come down drastically.”
According to him, the determining factor of fuel prices in Ghana is not just the international market pricing index but rather the international market price, taxes, and levies of fuel commodities which is controlled by government, and exchange rate which is also the responsibility of government.
He however said “when Covid struck, the international market price of crude came down to even below $30 per barrel, government did not reduce fuel prices…at least in the last five years, they have collected in excess of GHS 2.5 in price stabilization and recovery levies alone”.
He further stated that these three factors have been mismanaged by the current government, hinting that because government does not control the international market price of fuel, the price stabilization tax and recovery levy was instituted.
On the issue of the Assin North MP, he indicated that government is trying to use state institutions to reduce the NDC’s numbers in parliament just to pass the E-levy.
“That is why we have served notice that we will resist any such illegal attempt to reduce our numbers in parliament for purpose of the passage of the obnoxious of the levy”
As such, he said that, the legal team of the party is studying all the processes and will come out within the week with interventions.
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Source: ATLFMNEWS
