Minority asks Supreme Court to suspend tax exemptions granted to 1D1F companies

The relief they are demanding includes:

“A declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of the provisions of Article 174 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, the ‘Parliamentary Memorandum’ dated 28 February 2019, by virtue of which the Minister of Finance sought Parliamentary approval for tax exemptions for the One District One Factory (1D1F) programme, is inconsistent with and contrary to the said Article 174 of the 1992 Constitution and is accordingly unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect.”

“A declaration based on relief (i) above is that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 174 of the Constitution, the parliamentary approval for tax exemptions for the 1D1F Scheme granted to the Minister of Finance in letter dated 3 May 2019 with reference OP/T/R/0438 is inconsistent with and contrary to the said Article 174 of the 1992 Constitution and is therefore unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect.”

“A further declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 174 of the Constitution, the applications of the Minister of Finance for tax exemption for and on behalf of 42 private companies pending before Parliament for approval under the Tax Exemption Application 1D1F approved by Parliament are inconsistent with and contrary to the said Article 174 of the 1992 Constitution and are therefore unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect.”

“An interim injunction restraining the Minister of Finance and the Commissioner General of the GRA from taking any step to promote and implement the 1D1F tax exemptions for the 42 private companies. An interim injunction restraining the Parliament of Ghana from taking any step to promote the 1D1F tax exemptions for the 42 private companies without proof of compliance with Article 174(1) and (2) of the 1992 Constitution.”

The minority argued that no amount had been mentioned, which effectively gave the operators a blank check for the tax exemption.

The package, which includes tax exemptions and tax holidays of up to five years, was examined at committee level after being previously presented to the House of Representatives.