Parliament reduces penalty on tax default
National Science and Technology Policy in the offing
Parliament reduces penalty on tax default
Accra (Greater Accra) 18 October 2000
Only 14 of the 200- member parliament were present on Tuesday to pass into law a bill that imposes a five per cent penalty on people who deliberately fail to maintain proper records on their taxes.
The Internal Revenue Bill proposed a 50 per cent penalty. Commodore Steve Obimpeh, Chairman of the Finance Committee, in taking the Bill through the consideration stage in a House hit with massive absenteeism for about two weeks now, said the 50 per cent proposed "is too severe a deterrent"
He said tax law is not to scare the taxpayer. It should rather encourage him to do the right thing.
To keep the military away from enforcing tax laws the House deleted the sub-clause; " or the head of any other security agency" to empower the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to use only the police and not any other security agency.
Cdr Obimpeh said the clause if left to remain as it was could tempt the commissioner to use the military to enforce tax laws.
The Clause reads "for the purposes of this section, the Commissioner may request the Inspector General of Police or the head of any other state security agency for the requisite assistance for a specific assignment"
Dr Kofi Apraku, Minority Spokesman on Finance supported the amendment and said it was in order since the country did not have tax police as in other countries.
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National Science and Technology Policy in
the offing
Accra (Greater Accra) 18 October 2000
A draft of the first ever National Science and Technology Policy was laid before Parliament on Tuesday.
When passed, it will draw the perimeters for uplifting the country to middle income status by the year 2020 through the perpetuation of the culture of science and technology at all levels of the Ghanaian society.
In an introduction, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology Cletus Avoka said the draft was prepared to provide the framework which will ensure that science and technology forms the foundation for the country's development as outlined in Vision 2020.
He said the lack of an explicit, legally standing policy of that nature to guide national development has been identified as the single most outstanding obstacle to capitalising on technology for development.
"In addition to the low priority accorded science and technology, the poor performance of various sectors of the economy, especially the manufacturing industry, could be attributed to the lack of this application."
The policy is also intended to raise the level and participation in the funding of science and technology in the country.
In the short term, two per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be invested annually in science and technology.
The funding for science and technology, currently estimated at 0.3-0.5 of the country's GDP, is far below the one percent prescribed by the 1980 Lagos Plan of Action.
Government, under the policy, will among other things, encourage the improvement of the quality of Research and Development (R&D) activities, especially within private sector institutions, and promote the participation of women in science and technology.
It will also establish mechanisms for the finance, management and evaluation of the performance of science and technology.
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