* Government delays collecting tax, “weighing options”
* Ghana looking to capitalise on soaring gold prices
* Worries tax could do more harm than good
By Kwasi Kpodo
ACCRA, Sept 11 (Reuters) – Ghana has delayed implementing a
windfall tax on mining profits while it considers whether to
scrap the proposed levy, the head of the country’s mining
regulator said on Tuesday.
The West African nation, the continent’s second-largest
source of gold, proposed the 10 percent windfall tax on
mining companies’ profits in its 2012 budget as part of measures
to boost income to state coffers.
The government also raised the corporate tax rate on miners
from 25 to 35 percent for this year.
“There are areas we need to look at carefully to decide
whether the windfall tax is the best way to go…It’s a complex
tax and we are still weighing the options,” Ben Aryee, chief
executive of the Minerals Commission told Reuters.
The International Monetary Fund last year recommended that
Ghana, which is also the world’s number 2 cocoa grower and an
oil producer, consider raising taxes or introducing new ones to
increase revenues.
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