Adnan Adams Mohammed
First stage of Parliamentary debate on the 2023 Budget and Economic Policy of the government ended last week with approval of the 2023 budget.
The budget statement was approved with the numbers of the majority ruling government members of parliament, in spite of, strong public opposition against some proposed tax policies, especially, the 2.5 percent VAT increment and the 1.0 percent e-levy.
Debating on the floor of Parliament, the Minority Leader, argued that his members are hesitance to move forward with the budget approval due to the already acknowledged hardship in the country as admitted by the President, Nana Akufo-Addo.
“In this budget, the Minister of Finance is introducing 23 tax measures and a 2.5% VAT rate (increase). We the NDC minority group will fearlessly resist and fight the imposition of these additional taxes,” Haruna Iddrisu said.
“Mr Speaker, if I say that our country is in deep crisis and President Akufo-Addo himself has accepted that the country is in crisis but what he failed to add was to take responsibility for leading the country into this economic crisis. The president must gather the courage and take full responsibility.”
But, the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu countered the argument raised by the Minority Leader, and while he admitted that the country is not in a good shape, he said that revenue that will be raised from the VAT will go a long way to help address the situation.
“My colleague spoke about challenging the 2.5 % VAT rate. But as we all know, the economy is not in a good shape so the 2.5 % raise is primarily for road construction. If you do not want your road to be constructed, tell us,” he said.
After this debate, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin put the question of the budget and economic policy statement presented by the Finance Minister on November 24.
He explained that the 2023 budget and Economic Policy Statement had thus been approved.
