The issue of the withholding tax had been a long dragging battle between the authorities and the Small Scale Miners. It trickled down to gold exporters who were compelled to bear the brunt.

Chamber

However, speaking to journalists in Accra, on the budget statement as regards the 1.5 per cent tax, the Chief Executive Officer of the CBTG, Mr Daniel Krampah said, “this decision has been long coming so the Chamber appreciates the decision of government for listening to the industry players”.

“The Chamber had actually proposed a one per cent withholding tax because for us as a Chamber and gold exporters, the business of the Small Scale Miners directly or indirectly affects our businesses,” he said.

Mr Krampah said the Chamber did not have any qualms with the Small Scale Miners coming out to accept the government’s proposal of 1.5 per cent for that to be captured in the budget adding that “We are fine with that”

Smuggled gold

He said because of the three per cent withholding tax, some individuals, who were not members of the Chamber rather smuggled their gold without paying a dime to the government, a situation that negatively affected revenue mobilisation.

Consequently, he said, the Chamber came out with a revenue mobilisation plan last year which shot revenue to an appreciable point but still the illicit deals by smugglers thwarted the Chamber’s efforts.

“There were dwindling trade volumes on the part of licensed export last year because they could not get their supplies regularly. The reduction of the 3 per cent Withholding Tax should be an incentive for all in the industry to let those smuggling to give up that habit” he said.

Figures

Mr Krampah said, for instance, the figures from January to the end of year 2021, which amounted to Gh¢30,841,591, clearly showed a dip in the trends compared to over GHC200 million for mid-May to December in the year 2020 when the tax was first implemented.

He expressed the hope that with this reduction, licensed dealers would be encouraged to go through the right channels in order to increase the volumes and its corresponding fiscals.

The Chairman of the CBTG also seized the opportunity to thank all the stakeholders including the GRA, PMMC, Minerals Commission and the sector Ministry for making this tax cut a reality.