“Ghanaian Civil Society Calls for Tax Justice and Action Against Illicit Financial Flows”

Story by Fada Amakye from Top Radio

The Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT), led by Patricia Blankson Akakpo, Head of Secretariat and Team Leader, has organized a 2-day policy conference in Accra. The conference brought together representatives from civil society organisations, women’s rights organisations, trade unions, academia, and development partners to focus on promoting tax justice and curbing illicit financial flows (IFFs) for inclusive and gender-equitable development in Ghana.

The conference participants called for fiscal policy reforms that facilitate a gender-equitable, fairer, and progressive tax regime embedded in a human-centered, rights-based, and pro-poor approach. They also demanded immediate action to control IFFs, recognizing IFFs as a massive loss of public funds at the expense of essential social services, efficient public service delivery, and decent jobs to promote the full realization of human rights of all citizens to enhance inclusive and sustainable development.

Weak domestic resource mobilization efforts in Ghana have resulted in a low tax-to-GDP ratio, which is insufficient to fund public investment in health, education, and social protection. The situation is further exacerbated by revenue leakages through IFFs, tax avoidance, and under-taxation of multinational companies operating in key sectors such as mining, oil, and gas.

Ghana’s tax regime remains heavily reliant on indirect taxes such as VAT and levies on goods and services, which disproportionately affect low-income households and deepen inequality. The lack of gender-disaggregated data and gender impact assessment on taxation results in policies that worsen gender inequality and limit women’s access to economic and social opportunities.

The conference participants emphasized that tax justice is a pillar of social justice and that a fair, transparent, and accountable tax system is essential for achieving Ghana’s development aspirations, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The participants called on the government to strengthen progressive taxation and resource mobilization, address structural gender inequalities in taxation and fiscal policy, curb illicit financial flows and corporate tax abuse, deepen fiscal transparency and public accountability, and strengthen civic engagement and institutional capacity.

They also committed to sustaining advocacy for gender-equitable tax justice, fiscal transparency, and accountability, and to generating and disseminating evidence-based research on the gendered impacts of taxation and IFFs.

The conference concluded that tax justice is a gender justice issue and that a just and inclusive tax system is fundamental to national transformation, gender equality, and the reduction of poverty and inequality.