The government has been urged to review the tax law that has roped credit unions into the payment of corporate income tax to ensure financial inclusion and poverty reduction.
Aside from deepening financial inclusion and fighting poverty, which was a core objective of every government, credit unions could also contribute to the realisation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on ending poverty by 2030.
Mr John Kofi Seidu, the Board Chairman of the Wa Community Cooperative Credit Union (WACCU), said this in Wa during the Union’s Annual General Meeting (AGM).
He said there was an urgent need to revert the credit union movement to its status quo regarding the payment of corporate income tax, to enable them to deepen financial literacy, capital formation and financial inclusion, among others.
He appealed to the President, Finance Ministry and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to consider an immediate review of the tax law that had wrongfully brought credit unions under the tax radar of th
e state.
Mr Seidu said this in relation to an estimated amount of GHS900,000.00 corporate income tax obligation of WACCU for 2023, which he said was the first time WACCU was paying such tax in its 59 years of existence.
He said it was sad that the GRA had been harassing credit unions over the corporate income tax and appealed to the appropriate authorities to take the necessary action including reviewing the law to help save Credit Unions from such harassments.
Mr Seidu reported that WACCU made a profit of GHS2,354,094.23 in 2023 against a profit of GHS1,715,728.26 in 2022 but said the corporate income tax was affecting the Union.
He said within the year under review the Union made a gross revenue of GHS8,495,579.59 against a gross revenue of GHS6,170,701.76 accrued in 2022.
Mr Dramani Natomah Adams, the Upper West Regional Chapter Chairman of the Ghana Co-operative Credit Unions Association (CUA), said credit unions were there to protect the interest of its members.
He urged members to take ownership o
f the Unions and to support their growth, saying, ‘We are not into profit-making.’
He also encouraged the members to verify the information they received about the Union and not to act on rumours as that was detrimental to the growth of the Union.
Source: Ghana News Agency