The Assistant Commissioner of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Emelia Assam, has refuted claims made by Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, regarding alleged harassment of businesses for taxes.

During a meeting with the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Bawumia accused the GRA of pressuring businesses under the guise of tax collection, citing unrealistic targets set for GRA officers.

However, speaking at the Oxfam Tax Dialogue on Citi TV, Emelia Assam clarified that the GRA does not engage in harassing businesses for taxes.She emphasised that GRA staff are not authorised to harass clients and only deal with compliance issues when necessary.

Assam explained, "There is no harassment with tax collection... GRA staff don’t go out to harass."She further outlined the GRA's procedures for dealing with non-compliance, such as sending notifications for registration and issuing invoices for VAT payments, but reiterated that this does not constitute harassment.

“No tax officer who has been authorised to go out is expected to harass any client. In the sense that we have some compliance issues that we deal with everyday. One is every tax payer must register, failure to register, we can send you a notification to appear.

“We can lock up your place if you fail to respond to these notifications. We have duties to issue invoices for people who are registered to pay VAT.”