Minority ‘deeply pained’ 2.5% VAT increment approved
The Minority in Parliament says try as its members did to reject the 2.5 percent increment in the Value Added Tax (VAT) as proposed in the 2023 budget, the Amendment Bill was passed.
“Nevertheless, we live to fight another day,” a member of the group has vowed.
After a heated debate Thursday dawn, the Bill was put to vote and the Minority lost by just one vote.
The Majority’s 136 members present were enough to beat the Minority’s 135.
Taking to his official Twitter page, Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa described the outcome as “our only setback”.
The Minority had outlined an 8-point Must-Win Agenda in considering the Appropriations Bill on the 2023 budgetary allocations.
The group managed to reject a GH¢1.3 billion allocation for the reconstruction of the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC), GH¢80 million to the National Cathedral of Ghana, proposal to remove the threshold on the e-levy and a measure to demand a tax clearance certificate from drivers as a requirement for renewing driver’s license.
“Objectively and sincerely, despite an unwavering determination of the NDC Parliamentary Caucus to achieve all we set out to accomplish in solidarity with suffering Ghanaians, we lost the crucial VAT vote by a narrow 136-135,” Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa, who is also Member of Parliament for North Tongu Constituency, wrote.
“This is the only item on our 8-Point Must-Win-Agenda which we failed to deliver, and for which we are deeply pained.
“We did our very best but as they say, it’s always difficult to win everything. Nevertheless, we live to fight another day.”
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