According to Professor John Gatsi, dean of the University of Cape Coast's (UCC) business school, the National Identity Card has not yet brought the nation any economic benefits.
According to him, the card is actually used for voter identification and verification for election-related purposes rather than as a means of bringing undocumented workers into the tax system.
The government has been working to register all of its residents for the National Identity card over the past few years, and the Executive Director of the National Identification Authority said in a recent interview that the authority had so far registered more than 17.4 million Ghanaians.
Prof. Gatsi claimed that the process has not helped to formalize the economy despite the financial burden these registrations have placed on the nation, with the government currently owing the authority more than GH80 million.
The National Identification Authority (NIA) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) announced in 2021 that the Ghana card Personal Identification Number (Ghana card PIN) will take the place of the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) of individuals issued by the GRA for tax identification purposes as of April 1, 2021.
This modification was made in accordance with the government's policy that all transactions requiring the identification of an individual must use a unique identifier.
The Ghana Card will be the only form of identification accepted for transactions at all financial institutions that the Bank of Ghana licenses and regulates as of July 1, 2022, the bank said in a 2022 announcement, furthering its goal of safeguarding the security of the financial system.
But, Prof. Gatsi stated that the nation had not yet experienced any real economic benefits from the Ghana card in an interview with the Graphic Business that was conducted on the sidelines of the Graphic Business/Stanbic Bank Breakfast Meeting.
He claimed that although other nations have used their identification cards to formalize their economies and force people in the unorganized sector to pay taxes, Ghana has not done so.
"We have developed many strategies to bring the unorganized sector into the tax net, but the majority of them still do not pay taxes, even though some of them who are recognized by trade associations do."
"We were trying to formalize by introducing the TIN and National Identification Card, which is what other countries have used to integrate the informal sector into the tax net, but it seems to me that instead of using the Ghana card to integrate into platforms that will identify economic activities by various group of people, we are rather focused on using the Ghana card on identification and verifying citizens, as well as for purposes of elections," he said.
He said that this implied that the Ghana card's financial advantages were being forfeited.
The government should be engaged in supporting firms rather than merely collecting taxes, Prof. Gatsi added.
The government shouldn't be uninterested in how firms are raised after they are established.
In order for effective productivity to occur, he said, "government must foster them by establishing the necessary environment by ensuring that the interest rate regime is accommodating, by ensuring that inflation is properly anchored, and by ensuring that exchange currency regime is also stable."
When this is accomplished, he claimed, the firms will be fostered and in a position to pay taxes.
On the topic of "Thriving during economic turbulence," the Breakfast Meeting brought together representatives from business, government, and academia.
Professor John Gatsi, Professor Agyapomaa Gyeke-Dako, an economist and lecturer at the University of Ghana, and Michael Bozumbil, the chief executive officer of Petrosol, all spoke at the gathering.
The Domestic Debt Exchange Program and the government's tax initiatives, according to Professor Gyeke-Dako, were vital, but the government still has to increase spending to boost the economy.
"We have made an effort to implement some policies that will help the economy recover, but we must do more. We are not doing enough on the expenditure side to be able to get us back to where we expect to be because we have placed so much focus on revenue, the speaker said.
Even though the government pledged over GH20 billion in expenditure reductions in the mid-year budget, she claimed there was still more that could be done.
She suggested that the government review some of its signature initiatives and, if possible, halt some of them until the economy is stabilized during such trying times.
"There are a few flagship programs that are beneficial, and if our economy is performing well, it will be great to operate them, but right now, we must prioritize and concentrate on recovering the economy. We can reintroduce them after we recover, she suggested.
She pointed out that programs like the free SHS needed to be evaluated in order to make sure that those who could afford it did so.
Professor Gyeke-Dako also made the argument that, despite its importance, the nation's democracy was excessively expensive, with some sort of election taking place every two years.
In the future, she suggested that to cut costs, the district assembly elections may be combined with the primary Presidential and parliamentary elections.
She additionally asked the government to concentrate its spending on infrastructure and initiatives that would raise the nation's productivity.
-By Mentle Esther|Mydailyreports24|Ghana
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