IT cannot be denied that the impressive performance put up by the players of the senior national soccer team, the Black Stars, brought dignity, honour and pride to our nation.
Indeed, the whole of Africa and Africans in the Diaspora felt proud of and ingratiated to the Black Stars for being worthy ambassadors of the continent in the face of stiff opposition mounted by the nations from the other continents.
In a fitting tribute to this heroic feat chalked up by the Stars, the government announced a package for them, which included monetary and other national awards.
That the Stars, in holding high the flag of Ghana at the mundial, greatly enhanced the image and standing of our dear nation and continent in the eyes of the world is a truism that needs no recounting.
As if that was not enough, 10 per cent of the earnings of each of the 23-member team is to be paid as tax to the state.
Initial estimates put the tax figure for the 23 players at $349,600 (see front page).
There are many Ghanaians who, riding on the crest wave of the honour the Stars have brought the nation, will advance sound reasons to justify why the Stars should, at least in this instance, be exempted form paying taxes on their earnings.
The popular refrain in this respect is that by sacrificing their talents and energies to do us this great honour, they have already paid their dues and, therefore, need not be saddled with a further burden.
It is further contended that this instance provides a suitable justification for granting tax waivers to the Stars so that they could derive maximum benefits from all their earnings.
Be that as it may, the laws of the land, supreme as they are, require that these deductions be made for the national good, irrespective of who is involved or the circumstance or occasion at stake.
It is no secret that many individuals and corporate bodies either under-declare and under-pay their taxes or evade the payment of such taxes altogether.
This, among others, has contributed substantially to the prevailing situation where the tax burden is on the shoulders of a smaller segment of the population.
This means that the burden of generating funds internally to prosecute the government’s development plans and programmes to make life better for all disproportionately rests on the shoulders of only a few.
For years, individuals and groups, acting in collusion with some tax officials, have devised ways of persistently evading taxes, either without being caught or, where exposed, the sanctions are not commensurate with the crime.
It is in the face of such unpatriotic and nation-wrecking acts that we highly commend the sacrifices of our gallant Stars and others in honouring their tax obligations and putting the government in good stead to honour its development plans and programmes.
We urge the government, in its bid to reform the system, to endeavour to plug all loopholes in the tax system and widen and deepen the net so that more revenue will be secured for government programmes.
Additionally, we urge that stiffer sanctions be imposed on tax evaders and all those who collude with them in the commission of such criminal acts.
Such stiffer penalties should help serve as a disincentive to such nation wreckers to dissuade them from persisting in those negative acts.
We also need to improve the conditions of service of staff of the tax collecting agencies to motivate them and also reduce their susceptibility to taking bribes from tax dodgers.
Lastly, we wish to appeal to the patriotic instincts of tax officials and tax dodgers that it is ultimately in their interest to ensure that the right things are done, since any deficiency in resources for the government will reflect in poor infrastructure and other developments that will impact adversely on all.
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