Dr. Alex Ampaabeng, a Deputy Finance Minister, is advocating for the taxation of online trading companies as a strategy to enhance Ghana’s revenue generation.
During an interview with Channel One TV, Dr. Ampaabeng underscored the significant revenue generated by both local and international online companies from Ghanaian clients, emphasizing the need to incorporate these businesses into the country’s tax framework.
Dr. Ampaabeng highlighted the potential of online businesses and content creators as promising revenue streams for Ghana. He pointed out the current disparity, where local companies are taxed while global social media giants like YouTube and Facebook, which earn substantial revenue through advertisements, operate tax-free in Ghana.
He noted that the market presence of these online trading platforms often surpasses that of many physical marketplaces across Ghana in both scale and economic impact, making their inclusion in the tax framework essential for equitable revenue generation.
“I can’t think of a country which has not gotten a digital service tax system of some sort, so Ghana is long overdue. Just to make an example so that people will appreciate where I’m coming from. Go to YouTube and play a video, within one or two minutes, you are going to watch about two, or three adverts.”
“What it tells you is that Facebook or YouTube is making profits right here in Ghana. Go to your Facebook account, and you are going to see a number of adverts on your right and left. What it is telling you is that Facebook is making profits right here in Ghana and not being taxed. Meanwhile, there are companies operating in Ghana, for jurisdiction reasons, of course, that are being taxed,” he said.
“So then, it comes to the question of the application of our tax laws. Revenues generated in Ghana are subject to taxes. We have Facebook, TikTok and all those players, these are digital platform owners,” he added.