By Godwill Arthur-Mensah/Elsie Appiah-Osei
Accra, July 18, GNA – The Minority Caucus in Parliament has dismissed claims by Mr Mahama Ayariga, the Majority Leader, that the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) government abused tax incentives for “One District, One Factory” (1D,1F) companies.
Addressing a presser at the Parliament House in Accra, on Friday, Mr Michael Okyere Baafi, the NPP Member of Parliament for New Juaben South, and a former Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, said the 1D,1F initiative was a two-tier programme.
He said the then government facilitated tax incentives for businesses in order to ramp up production.
The set beneficiary companies were greenfield companies, that’s businesses starting from scratch or afresh and brown companies, meaning those companies that had been in existence for sometime, the lawmaker explained.
“So, the government provided a five-year tax holiday for the greenfield companies and tax waivers for companies that imported items or materials for production.
Mr Baafi stated that everywhere in the world, it was the government that provided facilitation for private companies to thrive and create jobs.
He said the Majority Leader got it all wrong to say that companies abused tax incentives, arguing that the Government did not have anything to hide because there were standardised arrangements for companies to access funds.
Earlier, in his speech on the floor of Parliament, Mr Ayariga had said most of the companies under 1D,1F abused tax incentives while most of the companies were concentrated in the southern sector, instead of being allotted across 261 districts of the country.
GNA
Edited by Christabel Addo