Prove that Mahama taxed cutlasses, condoms – Terpker challenges ‘detractors

Former Finance Minister Seth Terkper has dismissed the notion that cutlasses and condoms were taxed under the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama administration.

Terpker, who served as Minister of Finance throughout the Mahama presidency said the notion was wrong in a Twitter post responding to former presidential spokesperson, Koku Anyidoho.

The former minister said he had serially challenged anyone with evidence that cutlasses and condoms were taxed or any evidence of same being repealed by the current government to make them available; but it has yielded no response.

Anyidoho had tweeted: “Who taxed condoms and cutlasses in this country when he was President?” reference to claims that Mahama had at a point taxed the two products.

“Wrong!! My good brother. I have been challenging anyone to cite the provision in the Customs Act and relevant Tariff # that imposed such taxes. He or she can also cite the “amendments” by the current administration. None to date but still on standby,” Terkper hit back.

Find Terpker’s tweet below:

Was Bawumia the first to make cutlass, condom tax claim?

In the run up to the 2016 elections, the then running-mate of the flagbearer of the then opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, accused the government of undermining economic growth by overburdening businesses with taxes.

Speaking on Accra-based Joy FM, Dr Bawumia said the government had mismanaged the economy to a point where it had to rely desperately on raising taxes to generate revenue.

He said: “You have a government where you have cutlasses being taxed; condoms being taxed…. When you become desperate, this is what happens; and when you mismanage the economy into this hole then, anything sounds great to you. You don’t have any option and this is the problem.

“Anything that is taxable and that can feasibly be taxed, they are trying to impose tax on them.

“All of these are hurting the economy and therefore you are not going to get the growth, and when you don’t get the growth, you will not get the revenue, and when you don’t get the revenue, you go back to increasing taxes to get the revenue, and then you are in a cyclical downward spiral. So they have it wrong and we’ll change that particular policy.”