Bottled and sachet water are among the basic goods that consumers all around the nation may soon find less readily available in plastic packaging.
This occurs as local industry players, represented by the Ghana Plastic Manufacturers Association, have given the government a terse ultimatum, requesting the immediate removal of a recently implemented five percent excise tax on plastic products made in the country.
According to the Association, manufacturers are willing to express their dissatisfaction by stopping production for a week if their requests are not fulfilled.
The Ghana Plastic Manufacturers Association President, Ebbo Botwe, called for renewed engagement with all stakeholders during a press conference, emphasising the urgency for the government to reconsider its position in order to prevent any potential economic fallout from the planned production shutdown.
We are pleading with Dr. Mahamudu Bawumuia, the vice president, to become involved in this case since the average man and woman will face tremendous hardship as a result of this consumer tax.
“In summary, we demand that GRA cease its harassment of plastic manufacturers. We also give the Ministry of Finance a week to reply to our request; failing that, we will be forced to force all plastic manufacturers to halt production for a minimum of one week, at which point we will undoubtedly send over 30,000 employees home.
Dr. Joseph Obeng, the president of the Ghana Union of Traders’ Association (GUTA), for his part, made a strong case for coming up with creative ways to pay taxes rather than burdening regional businesses.
“The business community is being ignored by the government. Let’s postpone putting the excise tax into effect. We are well aware that, at this particular time, businesses are suffering due to exchange rate fluctuations, thus the timing is not suitable and it’s unfair.
“Are we suggesting we don’t care about the state of businesses? This isn’t the time to impose another tax when so many others have already been placed on us?”