An Exploratory Assessment of Indirect Tax Contribution by Oil and Gas Companies in Ghana

An Exploratory Assessment of Indirect Tax Contribution by Oil and Gas Companies in Ghana

Kwarteng Opoku

In the context of this development, value added tax (VAT) and goods and services tax (GST) rates keep on increasing, the scope of taxes are also expanding at the same time. Governments have put in more effort to increase its revenues so as to reduce deficits, but without endangering the fragile of economic growth or the competitiveness of the local economy. Based on this concept, increasing indirect taxes is deemed to be more suitable, instead of increasing direct taxes like the corporate taxes. In the United States of America for instance, several of the states are extending their scope of their general taxes consumptions. Ghana was among a host of developing countries that experienced fiscal crises in the 1970s and 1980s. These fiscal imbalances led to undesirable impacts on domestic prices, interest rates and balance of payments. The fiscal imbalances also led to differing policy instruments for accelerating growth. There are a number of policy instruments that can be used to accelerate growth. The government of Ghana heavily rely on indirect taxes to boost revenues. For instance, the customs duties and the local excise tax illustrates a much higher percentage of overall tax revenue in the country. Due to the proliferation of the trade agreement and the increasing importance of the oil marketing companies in the country, the consumptions taxes like the VAT and the GST among the oil marketing companies represent a significant portion of government revenue. These challenges do not facilitate an effective tax collection within the sector, hence there is the need for an effective exploratory of indirect tax contribution by these oil and gas companies in Ghana. The researcher opted for the use of the tax payment sheet of these Oil marketing Company and Bulk Distribution Companies. This was however gathered from the Customs Division at the Tema Oil Refinery. The analysis revealed that the respondents were of the view that the tax system was robust in achieving yearly increase in government share of oil revenue, adequate in tax incentives packages necessary for the attraction of foreign direct investments, and sound in terms of international competitiveness. The finding on VAT with one period lag of one suggests some caution on the part of the government to identify all administrative loopholes for leakages to plug and to continue to maximize the contribution of VAT revenue to economic growth.

MBA. Oil & Gas Management

Ghana Technology University College

September, 2016

Mr. Michael Owusu Akomeah