A Deputy Minister-designate for the Ministry of Finance, John Kumah has hinted of the implementation of a new program to ensure Ghana’s thriving informal sector is efficiently taxed.

While taking his turn before Parliament’s Appointments Committee, Mr. Kumah noted that the initiative tagged as the Revenue Assurance Compliance and Enforcement (RACE) program will in addition to other innovative reforms ensure government taxes the informal sector in the coming years.

According to the Deputy Minister-designate, government will continue to experience revenue shortfalls if systems are not put in place in the short to medium term to ensure players in the informal sector pay their taxes.

“The idea of efficient revenue mobilization for our country is critical especially for our development financing, and the statistics show that 90% of our working population are in the informal sector. So if you don’t have an effective way of collecting taxes in the informal sector then you are losing a lot. We really need to have new innovative interventions to help tax things like night business.”

“We will introduce the Revenue Assurance Compliance and Enforcement (RACE) program which will contribute to helping in taking more from the informal sector to support national development,” he added.