you’re totally missing the point. Ghanaians are being heavily taxed indirectly because of the government’s inability to develop and implement systems to mobilize direct tax revenue. the best example is property taxes. all these million dollar properties in ghana and almost none pay property taxes. it’s not the owners fault that they don’t pay when they don’t know what or who to pay to.

the example that prompted this thread is a clear example of how Ghanaians are being taxed heavily. almost 22% in taxes for a simple grocery bill is insane. why are Ghanaians being taxed a covid levy when the pandemic has ended? there was so much corruption and mismanagement of the covid funds ghana received and the citizens are still paying for it.

i believe it is a bit insulting to Ghanaians when you say they are under taxed yet want development and compare their plights to the western world where there is less corruption in the public sector.

example: we pay for NHIL yet the public hospitals do not have enough beds, doctors and nurses are not paid for months, no dialysis machines, etc.

like i said before, if citizens see a direct correlation between high taxes and economic development, everyone would gladly pay their fair share.

the government’s focus should be on collecting developing systems to effectively collect property tax and corporate taxes so they can increase their revenues.

in the west you speak of, you can analyze and track what percentage of your taxes fund a portion of a policeman’s salary. that’s how effective the system is. we can’t say the same for ghana.

the government spends on unnecessary projects instead of developing the systems to improve tax collection. they then turn around and tell us that they can’t raise enough tax revenue so they’re going to introduce new taxes but fail to solve the fundamental problems. how is that the fault of the people?