Organized labor has served notice the current standard of living will be central in salary negotiations this year.
To protect the Ghanaian worker, Joshua Ansah, deputy secretary general of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), says variables like inflation, taxes, and cost of living will be heavily taken into account when discussions for working conditions begin.
In an interview with Daniel Opoku of TV3 on Monday, April 3, Mr. Ansah voiced dissatisfaction with the current administration for raising taxes despite the state of the economy.
As their request that the government not pass the three pieces of legislation was not followed, he said, the TUC will carefully watch what the taxes generated by the revised bills will be utilized for.
On negotiations for increased salary, he stated: “Absolutely, we are going to factor in anything that eroded our gains like inflation, like taxes, like living standards, anything that makes our living standards not comfortable will be factored into our negotiations.”
This follows the passage by Parliament on Friday, March 31, of three revenue-related laws.
The legislation is the Growth and Sustainability Amendment Bill, the Excise Duty Amendment Bill, and the Income Tax Amendment Bill.
The government aims to generate about GH4 billion annually to boost domestic earnings.
Yet the TUC’s deputy general secretary claimed that over time, administrations have changed but never explained why they tax the populace so heavily, especially workers.
While paying taxes, he lamented, “We don’t see the development that we envision. We know taxes are for development.”
It will be challenging to persuade Ghanaians to pay higher taxes. Therefore we expect to see positive things this time.
“This time, we’re not going to sit down and fold our arms,” he warned. We’ll keep an eye on how the taxes are spent to hold them responsible for how they spend our money.
Source: 3News
