The Chartered Institute of Taxation Ghana has called on the government to take drastic measures to address tax evasion associated with illegal gold mining operations.
According to the Institute, the negative effect of illegal mining goes beyond its adverse environmental impact, as the situation also results in huge revenue losses.
Calls for a wholesale ban on small scale mining operations have been intensified by Organized labor and faith-based organizations, with the Chartered Institute of Taxation Ghana, being the latest organization to add their voice to the growing call.
According to Francis Timore Boi, a tax analyst and a member of the institute, because illegal miners operate outside the remit of the established legal frameworks, successive governments are unable to get them to honor their tax obligations.
‘‘So, the 35% corporate tax, 10% carried interest and the 5% royalties, all of these are going into private pockets,’ he stated in an interview with Joy News’ Daryl Kwawu.
Mr. Boi estimated that illegal mining is fundamentally driven by tax evasion and urged the government to look at illegal mining issues beyond its environmental consequences.
He called on the government to lead a sustainable and coordinated stakeholder engagement efforts to deal with the menace.
‘‘If you look at the amount of money that the government is getting from mineral resources in Ghana, clearly a huge chunk of it is going into private pockets and this is a serious tax operation,’’ he stated.
Mr. Boi insisted that the illegality of their operations does not exempt them from paying taxes.
Supporting a call for the ban on small scale mining, Mr. Boi asked for reforms within the small-scale mining sector, one that ensures that the right legal framework is developed to prevent the huge tax losses.
He cited a report that suggested that despite exporting $7 billion worth of gold to the UAE, Ghana was only able to account for only $2 billion of that export.