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Associate Professor in Economics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Prof. (Sr) Eugenia Amporfu has suggested to the management of National Identification Authority (NIA) to consider using online for the registration.

Giving her remarks as Chairperson for the Danquah Institute (DI) Economic Forum held on Friday May 10, 2019 at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons with the theme "Bridging The Gap Between The Formal And Informal Economy, The Role Of Domestic Revenue Mobilization In An Era Of Ghana Beyond Aid", Prof. Eugenia Amporfu indicated that people should not be made to form queue to register as they can do it onlne, under the e-registration system.

“We know that people are supposed to register and if they register, we will be able to identify them and get them to pay taxes. Registration should be very easy and it should be done at the doorstep instead of letting people close their doors to go and queue to get registered; they can do it online, e-registration should be encouraged and be used,” she remarked.

She again suggested that as the average level of education in the informal sector is very low, the country needs a tax system that is simple enough for people with low level of education to really understand and able to comply.

“ . . we need a tax system that is simple enough for people with low level of education to really understand and able to comply,” she emphasized.

Prof. Eugenia Amporfu however called on the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to use mobile money as a mode of tax collection in order to stop the unnecessary leakages and improve on taxes in the country as almost everybody in Ghana in the informal sector has mobile money account.

“A very popular technology that is currently used and well-integrated in the informal sector is the use of Mobile Money. Almost everybody in Ghana in the informal sector has mobile money account and so they can easily pay their taxes by mobile money instead of getting it through one person and another person and leading to unnecessary leakages. Let’s use our technology to improve our taxes and tax collection,” she mentioned.

But the Commissioner-General of Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Mr. Emmanuel Kofi Nti quickly intercepted that his outfit has already adopted the usage of mobile money as means for people to pay their taxes.

“On the issue of using mobile money to pay taxes, we are already doing to it in GRA. I want to clarify that so that we move on,” he reacted.