The Minority in Parliament is casting doubt over the impact of the Customs Amendment Bill on consumers of imported spare parts.
They argue that the absence of a proper mechanism to monitor the margin of reduction in prices would make little of the slashed taxes.
The Deputy Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr. James Klutse Avedzi explained to Citi Business News the government must not leave the full implementation to the spare parts dealers alone in the country.
“The targeted beneficiaries would eventually not benefit…if we are saying that there’s a free market and for that matter if I reduce the duty then the market should use its own demand and supply interactions to reduce the prices, then there is no need in coming out with this policy,” he stated.
Parliament on Wednesday, June 14th, 2017, passed the Customs Amendment Bill.
This also followed the scrapping of import duties on imported spare parts by the government.
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta at this year’s budget presentation asserted that the import duties were part of the twelve tax reliefs outlined to bring respite to local businesses.
The move was however conspicuously missing in initial amendments to the tax policies by the Finance Ministry.
The Abossey Okai Spare parts dealers association for instance was optimistic of an eventual scrapping after approval by Parliament.
Though the traders had already indicated plans to reduce their prices to reflect the tax cuts, Mr. Avedzi wants the government to closely monitor their operations to give value for money to the final consumer.
“The Minority is saying that there must be a mechanism in place to ensure that the effect is felt by the final consumer. The mechanism to ensure that the importer goes to pay less or no duty at the ports, it ensures that the price reflects that reduction for non-payment of duty by the importer,” he emphasized.
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/Duke Mensah Opoku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
