Revenue agencies exceed target

Back Pg. (Jan. 10/08)

Story: Charles Benoni Okine & Samuel Doe Ablordeppey
THE government has exceeded its revenue collection target for the year 2007, collecting GH¢3,031.55 million as against a projected target of GH¢2, 2,999.89 million.
This represents a positive variance of 1.1 per cent over the actual target for the year and 28 per cent growth over the previous year’s figure of GH¢2,370.77 million.
The Executive Secretary of the Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB), Mr Harry Owusu, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday.
This achievement breaks a two-year jinx during which the agencies were unable to meet the targets for 2005 and 2006.
It also came at a time when the country faced its worst energy crisis when businesses were on the verge of collapse, a situation which many economists predicted was likely to affect revenue collection for the year.
In giving the breakdown as per the institutions, Mr Owusu, who was highly elated about the results said the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was able to collect GH¢910.37 million as against a target of GH¢887.68 million.
This represents a positive variance of 2.6 per cent and represents a 24 per cent growth over the previous year’s figure of GH¢734.1 million.
For the Value Added Tax (VAT) Service, Mr Owusu said the service recorded a positive figure of GH¢459.32 million as against a target of GH¢450.50 million.
The amount is 29 per cent higher than the 2006 figure of GH¢354.73 million and two per cent over the 2007 target.
Mr Owusu said the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) recorded GH¢1,661 million, or 0.15 per cent above the annual target of GH¢1,661.71 million.
The CEPS result for the year was also 30 per cent higher than the 2006 figure of GH¢1,281.91 million.
“This year, we have been given a target of GH¢3,973 million to collect”, he said and indicated that “we are poised to perform as expected because we want to collect more to help the government reduce its reliance on donor assistance for national development.
Mr Owusu said the RAGB, together with its agencies were able to intensify their auditing, both internally and externally, and noted that the resolve of the board to meet the target also helped.
“We were also able to check smuggling of goods into the country and that meant that we had more goods to tax, hence more money”, he said.