Ghanaian to head Commonwealth Tax Administrators’ Association

The Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), George Blankson, has been elected President of the Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators (CATA) at the association’s just-ended 33rd Technical Conference in Malta. CATA, with membership of 49 countries is the largest association of tax administrations in the world. Its membership include the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, India, Nigeria, Malaysia and Commonwealth countries from all five continents.Founded by Finance Ministers of Commonwealth Countries at a conference in Barbados in 1978, CATA has over the past 34 years been instrumental in promoting modernisation of tax administration and adoption of efficiency-enhancing tax policies, procedures and processes. Blankson comes into the position of President of CATA with a wealth of experience in revenue administration spanning a period of 26 years during which he has held the position of Lead Consultant and Project Manager for Crown Agents on the National Revenue Authority Modernisation Project in Freetown, Sierra Leone; Deputy Commissioner (Operations), of the VAT Service and Assistant Commissioner in the erstwhile CEPS. Other officers elected to steer the affairs of CATA for the three years spanning 2012 – 2015 include Dr. Mold Shukor Malifar of Malaysia as Chairman, Mr. Peter Steeds of United Kingdom, Vice-Chairman.