The head of the Public Service Housing Loans Scheme board, Dr. Richard Yeboah Asante, has stated that the government needs to begin assessing property taxes based on the land’s value rather than the actual property.
Asante thinks that because of the numerous difficulties in the current assessment process, it is hard for assemblies to raise money through property taxes.
Just 20% of Accra property owners consistently pay property tax, according to a study by Residential Occupancy and Property Tax Arrears.
Either they don’t pay at all, or they don’t pay on time for the remaining 80%. Thirty percent of these owners, out of the eighty percent who default on their yearly payments, owe government taxes totalling ten years.
Speaking on Friday, February 9th, on the Asaase Breakfast Show, Asante stated that the land’s value must now be the main focus.
We will no longer allow property taxes to be paid on the building that is situated on the land; instead, the tax will be collected based on the land’s value.
“The focus should be on the land because you can have land in cantonments for about US$400,000, and the property sitting on it will only cost about GHC200,000. What will you make of it?”
The difficulty facing the assemblies, according to Asante, is that in order to appraise someone’s property, you must enter their room. However, not all Ghanaians will grant you permission to do so.
