Annual report on the Gold Coast / Colonial Office.

  • Great Britain. Colonial Office.
Date:
[1951]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on the Gold Coast / Colonial Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/130 (page 14)
    TAXATION Central Government revenue is derived primarily from customs duties and income tax. In the 1950-51 financial year the duties on imports totalled £7,222,434 and those on exports £4,949,389, of which £4,484,689 was derived from duties levied on cocoa and £353,412 from duties and minerals. Direct taxation yielded £4,564,411. Customs and excise duty and direct taxation alone accounted for some 81 per cent of total revenue. Income tax was first imposed in the Gold Coast by the Income Tax Ordinance of 1943, and came into effect on 1st April, 1944. Income accruing in or derived from the Gold Coast irrespective of the residence of the recipient, and income arising outside the Gold Coast and received in the Gold Coast by a Gold Coast resident, is liable to income tax. Special provision exists for the computation of the assessable income of new trades and occupations and also in the event of the cessation of a trade or occupation. Tax is payable on chargeable income, arrived at after all deductions and allowances have been taken off the gross income. Provision is made for relief from double tax¬ ation where the same income is liable to tax in both the Gold Coast and any other part of the British Commonwealth. No specific estate duty is levied in the Gold Coast but there is an ad valorem court fee payable on grant of probate and letters of admin¬ istration on the declared value of personal property at rates varying from 10s. on values not exceeding £50, to £3 10s. per £50 on values exceeding £15,000. In the great majority of estates of deceased Africans, it is unnecessary for probate or letters of administration to be taken out, and therefore the amount collected in this way is com¬ paratively small and totalled some £4,000 for the year. LOCAL AUTHORITY FINANCE Except in so far as the Central Government gives grants in aid to local government bodies, these have independent sources of revenue and their finances are separate from those of the Central Government. Both Native Authorities and Town Councils prepare their own estimates of revenue and expenditure which are, however, subject to Government approval. Despite the wide range of size, area and resources existing among the Native Authorities, a substantial measure of uniformity has been achieved in the form of their finances. Native Authority direct taxation takes the form of a rate of a fixed sum imposed upon each individual; women pay less than men, and chiefs and elders pay more. Income is not at present taken into account. Women are not liable to such taxation in the Northern Territories or in certain areas in the Colony. Elsewhere they normally pay half the rate prescribed for men. Annual rates of taxation for men not holding posts of traditional honour vary from 2s. to 21s., the average being 6s. Rates for chiefs of the highest grade may rise as high as £20. The normal exemptions cover children and those too infirm to work.