Minister-designate for Finance Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has assured the Ghanaian public that the betting tax will be scrapped as promised by President John Dramani Mahama during the 2024 electioneering period.
He described the betting tax as a nuisance tax that is not raking in the needed revenue as expected.
Appearing before the Vetting Committee on Monday, January 13, 2025, the minister-designate stated categorically that the government will scrap the tax.
He explained that scrapping it will not have a major or negative impact on the Ghanaian economy.
The nominee told the committee that eliminating the tax does not imply that the government is unconcerned about revenue mobilisation, emphasising that revenue mobilisation does not imply increasing taxes.
He underscored the importance of ensuring compliance with the Ghana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) existing handles.
‘’Yes, we have obviously announced that we are going to scrap certain taxes. We will stick to just that. But it doesn’t mean that we don’t care about the revenue. We care about the revenue, and we have to do more on revenue. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that we should increase taxes. Some of the taxes out there are not bringing in the revenue that they should. For example, the betting tax is bringing in less than Ghc50 million a year. Is a nuisance tax. Scraping Ghc50 million will not mean anything in a way that will affect the economy if you are to adjust particularly from the expenditure side.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
