Minister of Finance Designate, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson says scrapping the betting tax will not negatively impact the nation’s economy.
According to him, the revenue generated from the tax is a rather small amount as opposed to how much is needed to running the country and restoring its economy.
Dr. Ato Forson stated that the amount generated from betting tax annually is less than GH₵50 million and will not necessary affect the economy if it is scrapped as promised by President John Dramani Mahama in 2024.
The politician noted that a huge chunk of the nation’s resources is spent in the arena of government expenditure, and that is where the focus needs to go, noting that cut down on huge government expenditure will go a long way to restore the nation’s economy.
“We (NDC) have obviously announced that we will scrap some taxes and we will stick with just that but it doesn’t mean we don’t care about the revenue, we truly care about it.”
“Some of the taxes out there are not bringing in the revenue that it should. For example, the betting tax is bringing in less than 50 million cedis yearly and it’s a nuisance tax.”
“Scrapping 50 million cedis tax in a way will not mean anything that will hurt the economy if you are to adjust the expenditure side. So scrapping the betting tax will not necessarily affect the forward matching of the Ghanaian economy,” he said during his vetting in Parliament.
