In almost every society there are those who for one reason or the other would put aside all semblance of shame or dignity and declare themselves beggars, sitting in the streets and hoping others will sympathize with them and offer them something out of the goodness of their hearts. Some of these people are legitimately disabled and seek to use their disability as a means to manipulate people into offering them something. Others are full-bodied men and women with no disability whatsoever but have given up on finding jobs to support themselves and instead litter the streets trying to get hard working people to give them some of their earnings.
In Ghana, street beggars have become a menace to the society, with some being bold enough to harass you for money like you owe them, and if you don’t cough up they will take offence and hurl abuses at you. It is rumoured that some of these beggars have made so much money from begging that they have been able to build a house or two when most of those they beg from are still paying rent or probably even homeless. Well, since it is more or less an occupation or a business now, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has decided that beggars should be made to pay taxes just like everyone else.
The Principal Revenue Chief at the Small Tax Payer Office of the GRA in the Northern region Alhaji Yahaya Mohammed, speaking to journalists, said that some people in the business of begging earn so much income daily that they fall within the tax threshold. Street hawkers are not being left out, as they are also expected to start paying tax on the goods they hawk.
“Those who carry things on their heads to sell (hawkers) be it cloth or consumables, we will tax them, how much more people who earn daily”, Alhaji Yahaya said. “GRA taxes foreigners in town and by law, the beggars fall within the taxable threshold,” he explained. He admitted that the task ahead was cumbersome but they were determined to see it through since some beggars have acquired assets and are making the “begging business” attractive.
“It is difficult to tax them but if they get the understanding that the income that they are earning, they are supposed to pay something to government it will help”. He was unable to give an estimate of the earnings of these beggars but was of the belief that they make enough money to be taxed.