Three National Democratic Congress Members of Parliament have petitioned the Supreme Court to suspend the tax waivers granted to companies under the One District, One Factory (1D1F) initiative.
The MPs, Bernard Ahiafor (Akatsi South), Kwame Agbodza (Adaklu), and Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah (Ellembelle), seek several declarations and reliefs.
They argue that the “Parliamentary Memorandum” dated February 28, 2019, used by the Minister for Finance to seek parliamentary approval for 1D1F tax waivers, violates Article 174 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, rendering it unconstitutional, null, and void.
Additionally, the MPs contend that the parliamentary approval granted to the Minister for Finance on May 3, 2019, for 1D1F tax waivers is inconsistent with Article 174 of the Constitution, making it unconstitutional, null, and void.
They also assert that the tax waiver requests by the Minister for Finance for 42 private companies under the 1D1F initiative are unconstitutional.
Furthermore, they seek a perpetual injunction to restrain the Minister for Finance and the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) from implementing the 1D1F tax waivers for the 42 private companies.
They also aim to prevent Parliament from proceeding with these tax waivers without complying with Article 174 (1) and (2) of the Constitution.
Last month, despite opposition from the Minority, Parliament approved an incentive package and tax waivers for the 1D1F policy.
The Minority argued that the package, which includes tax exemptions and tax holidays of up to five years, lacked specific amounts, effectively providing a blank check to the operators.
The package was under consideration at the committee level after being presented to the House earlier.
Source: 3news
