Government has concluded plans to introduce tax stamps on bottled water as part of measures to raise revenue for the country.
The move, which will be undertaken by the Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is expected to commence in October this year.
The exercise will introduce a new tax stamp which would be boldly embossed on the lid of bottled water.
Head of tax policy unit at the Ministry of Finance, Anthony Dzadzra disclosed this to Business Day at a pre-budget tax consultative meeting on the fiscal impact of existing policies on individual households and the business community.
According to him, failure to comply with the directives will amount to products been impounded. He explained that government is introducing the tax stamps on selected exercisable products as part of enforcement of the tax compliance law.
Mr. Dzadzra said, the Ministry would start with water to widen the tax net, noting that the move is to enable them know the number of bottled water for now, and that there will be the need for some special device for the stamping on such.
�Already the water producers are paying excise tax, �but with the tax stamp we will know the actual number of bottled water produce� he said.
Explaining the new tax policies to participants, he mentioned that retailers would not be able to sell any smuggled products as the stamp would be embossed on all excisable products.
He assured the participants that the ministry would take into account their views and recommendation in subsequent budget statement.
He said the policy should have been rolled out last year but there was the need for stakeholders, awareness creation.
According to Mr. Dzadzra, government did not impose any tax in 2013 but Parliament passed some measures in July to complement the efforts in stabilizing the fiscal situation, by passing a new VAT Act that increased the rate to 15 per cent (excluding 2.5 per cent NHIL).
He opined that �we need to increase our tax net because we cannot get money from anywhere but from Ghanaians.�
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