Mahama advises: Sit in trotro and pay less tax on petrol

President John Dramani Mahama has advised Ghanaians to start boarding ‘trotro’ (commercial vehicle) to and from the work place and other destination of their choice because that is more economical.

He said by using ‘trotro’, you pay less tax on petroleum products.

“If you have a V8, when you buy petrol it means you are paying more tax. If you sit in a ‘trotro’, it means you are paying less tax. This is because 15 of you will be sitting in the ‘trotro’, he said when addressing journalists at the Flagstaff House Tuesday.

He was reacting to a question asked by one of the journalists present at the event if the introduction of taxes, especially, those on petroleum products, were not draining the already depressed Ghanaian tax payer.

According to the President, it would be advisable for the vulnerable in society to restrict themselves to the use of ‘trotro’ since transport fares have not gone up.

Nonetheless, he said the imposition of taxes on petroleum products as a result of the passage of the Energy Sector Levies Bill into an Act, is rather affecting those using private vehicles.

“The imposition of tax on petroleum products is hitting us who uses private vehicles. And so, for most of us, if you are able to drive your own private vehicle to work and back, then you show that you have an income that you can contribute a little more than the person who sits in trotro.”