Senior Presidential Advisor at the Jubilee House, Mr. Yaw Osafo-Maafo has indicated that the country only gets 0.03% to Gross Domestic Product as property rate.
This according to him does not auger well for the country because when compared to those of other African Countries like The Gambia, ours is not encouraging.
“In Ghana, we only realize 0.03% of GDP from property rates. To put it better into perspective, The Gambia generates revenue from property rates about 17 times more than what we do in Ghana,” he said.
Mr. Osafo Maafo made this known when he delivered an address at the swearing-in of the new governing board of the Local Government Service in Accra. He, therefore, tasked the new board to create new and innovative ways of improving upon the amount of money, generated through property rate.
Background
Property tax or property rate is a real estate tax that is calculated on the assessed value of the property. It is known in Ghana as Property Rate. Property Rates are governed by the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936).
This tax applies to Immovable structures such as houses, apartments, estates, a mall, skyscraper shops, and any other immovable property.
According to Article 245 of the 1992 Constitution, Parliament has to prescribe the functions of District Assemblies. These functions include the levying and collection of taxes, rates, duties, and fees.
Each of the assemblies has its mechanism for collecting the property rate. In Accra, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly is the institution tasked with the collection of property tax. The determination of the property tax depends on the property’s estimated value. Thus, some rates may be higher than others, even within the same enclave.
SOURCE: DENNISLAW
