A representative perception poll conducted by the Institute of Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI), a public research think-tank, indicates that Ghanaians believe that, on average, 70 per cent of taxpayers’ contributions go into wasteful spending.
This was in a “Government Wasteful Spending Crumbs of Government Waste Report, 2022,” launched on the polls by ILAPI in Tema.
“On average, the Government wastes GHc0.70 out of every GH¢1.00 received as revenue. This denotes that 70 percent of every GH¢1.00 of taxpayers’ contributions goes into wasteful spending,” the report stated.
Mr. Peter Bismark Kwofie, the Executive Director of ILAPI, said the perception poll was conducted across the country between August and November 2022 with 2000 respondents, on its website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp pages through random sampling.
He noted that the poll provided primary information on the perception of Ghanaians about how their taxes were being utilised to solve problems and enhance economic prosperity.
Mr. Kwofie said the poll explicitly showed that 92 per cent of respondents were of the view that the government was wasting taxes; this, he noted, influenced the citizens’ degree of trust in the government.
He said “statistically, 90.5 percent of Ghanaians have lost trust in the Government due to corruption and a lack of accountability and transparency in the implementation and execution of policies and programmes.”
He said the poll data indicated some of the projects and policies the citizens perceived as waste of taxes included the National Cathedral, Presidential travelling, Government appointees, banking sector clean up, the fight against galamsey, Saglemi housing units, Ex-gratia, and Youth Employment Programmes such as YES and NABCO, among others.
He added that validation of the poll was done in addition to reviewing the government’s budgets, reports of the Controller and Accountant General Department, the Auditor General Report, Appropriation Acts, and Media Reportages to get an idea of the extent of wasteful spending of taxes collected.
He said reports of government agencies and ministries also provided data on the results of government interventions, irregularities, procurement fraud, appropriations, and expenditures.