Dancehall musician, Shatta Wale, has bemoaned the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA)’s habit of chasing musicians including himself for tax when the Ghanaian system makes it difficult for artistes to thrive.
Shatta made this statement while disclosing that the GRA claims he currently owes about GH¢9 billion.
He said according to the GRA, the tax debts had accrued since his early days when he had not even transitioned from Bandana to the ‘now wealthy’ Shatta Wale.
Shatta, who is peeved about the development, wondered why artistes who are offered no support for their businesses, are taxed by the government in this manner.
“I have been paying for my Google map service for over three years, I pay $8,000, $7,000 and nobody is paying attention to it but ever since they heard that Shaxi is in business, GRA and co, have been chasing me with tax. Where were they when I was struggling? I have been paying taxes for music that I had not even made money from. GRA is taxing me for my music, they say I owe about GH¢9 billion, backdated to the Bandana era where I didn’t even make money from my music,” he fumed during a discussion with GTV’s Kafui Dey.
Shatta further stressed that if the country had a better music royalty system, paying taxes and other financial commitments would not have been a problem for artistes.
“With all these things happening, when I talk about the royalty system nobody supports me, and it’s sad. Sometimes I feel like we are too scared to fight the problem and that is why I am vocal. I keep saying that if the government had done certain things for musicians, we would have been paying tax,” he added.
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Source: www.ghanaweb.com
