Members of the Ghanaian Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC) have been taken through a day’s workshop on Ghana’s tax system.
Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority Julie Essiam noted that the media plays a critical role in shaping public opinion and setting the agenda for public discourse, stating that organizations and individuals alike use the media as a tool in the dissemination of information.
According to her it’s on this premise that GRA is organizing this workshop for members of the parliamentary press corps to educate them on their mandate, processes and procedures to add to their body of knowledge and to help reporting devoid of distortions and misconceptions.
The challenging but engaging call to duty of reporting on the work of Parliament requires in-depth knowledge and understanding of Government and stakeholder business. Therefore, stakeholders such as the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) are happy to leverage on your expertise to work effectively, he added.
Taxation, he noted, is a creature of statute, hence taxation is not based on common law or judicial decisions, rather on explicit legislative enactments. The mandate of GRA is therefore to administer various tax laws for effective revenue mobilization in order to support Government’s socio-economic development agenda.
“I want to use this opportunity to also encourage you to gain additional knowledge on how the Tax Laws operate so that you can report on tax cases from a standpoint of knowledge, clarity and confidence. Informed media reportage will put the GRA on its toes and live to its responsibilities, while the taxpayers and potential taxpayers are informed of their obligations and thereby comply with the Tax Laws”.
Source: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ecowasnewsonline.com
