Food vendors at Kumasi’s Kejetia Market are threatening to sue the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) unless the government restructures what they call a punishing tax system that favors informal traders over registered operators.
Emmanuel Kwarteng, Chairman of the Ghana Traditional Caterers Association (GTCA), Kejetia Branch, told Business and Financial Times that members currently pay annual income taxes ranging between GH₵1,500 and GH₵3,000, an amount he says bears no relation to actual earnings.
Beyond income tax, registered vendors absorb additional costs including business operating permits, sanitation fees, fumigation charges, waste collection bills and electricity expenses. The cumulative burden, the GTCA argues, strips members of any realistic margin for profit or business growth.
The association wants the GRA to drop the income tax rate from the current 3 percent to between 0.5 and 1 percent of annual earnings. That proposal was placed before GRA officials in a direct engagement, but the meeting produced no meaningful result.
At the center of vendor frustration is what Kwarteng describes as a structural injustice: itinerant food sellers who hawk meals within the market and operate without fixed stalls face no tax obligations, yet they compete for the same customers as fully registered traders.
“We cannot continue to operate under such conditions while others go untaxed,” Kwarteng warned.
The association is now asking government to step in and design a flexible tax model that includes reinvestment incentives for compliant businesses. Kwarteng said compliance rates would improve significantly if traders saw a portion of their tax payments channelled back into business support.
If authorities do not act, the GTCA says it is prepared to seek a court order to compel equal treatment of all food vendors operating within the market.
The GRA has in recent weeks intensified its informal sector drive in the Ashanti Region, deploying officers daily across Kejetia stalls and introducing a mobile tax payment shortcode to widen compliance. The informal sector accounts for approximately 27.4 percent of Ghana’s gross domestic product but contributes less than 5 percent of total tax revenue.
