The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta has disclosed that the tax stamp policy will be extended to the textile industry.
The aim, is to curtail the counterfeiting and smuggling of cheap textile to the detriment of the local textile industry in Ghana.
“Ghana used to have a textile industry that employed around 30, 000 people, but in recent years the industry has fallen on hard times, and now the number employed is only around 5,000. It is Government’s aim to help revive this industry, which could be a big source of employment”.
The Finance Minister indicated that government will zero-rate VAT on the supply of locally made textiles for a period of three years to make the industry price-competitive.
The Finance Minister said these when he delivered the 2019 Budget Statement and Economic Policy in Parliament today (November 15, 2018).
The Tax Stamp Policy
The Tax Stamp Policy emanates from the Excise Stamp Act, 2013 (Act 873).
Tax Stamps are small stickers with security features supplied by government to some manufacturers and importers to be affixed to their products before they are released onto the market.
The presence of the Tax Stamps on a product provides enough guarantee of product authenticity.
In the implementation of the policy, local manufacturers and importers of excisable products are required to register with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to enable them obtain the stamp.
