The finance minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has revealed that he plans to lay the bill in parliament to scrap the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy), the COVID-19 Levy, and the 10% tax on lottery winnings (betting tax).
According to Ato Forson, he will be going to Parliament to submit the bills under the certificate of urgency.
Ato Forson further assured the bill will be submitted tomorrow and is hopeful that Parliament will take it through the various stages and approve it.
Speaking on JOYNEWS, Ato Forson stated, “Tomorrow morning, I will be going to Parliament to submit the bills, and I expect Parliament to take them through a certificate of urgency.
Repealing the taxes will be one clause each. Repealing the betting tax is very easy, the e-levy and all of those things we are repealing is quite easy, It’s a revenue bill, and under the Constitution, you have any way to lay finance bills under a certificate of urgency.
“I assure you that I will do my bid tomorrow and submit it to Parliament, and looking at the urgency involved, I’m hopeful that Parliament will take it through the various stages and approve it for us,” Dr Forson added.
Ato Forson affirmed that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Majority caucus fully backs the initiative.
“As for the backing of the NDC Majority caucus, we have it 100%,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, the Finance Minister yesterday 11 March 2025 reiterated, that the Mahama government will scrap the E-levy, Emission levy, betting tax and other taxes.
According to Ato Forson, the government attempt to review the Value Added Tax system, and the government will also eventually abolish the COVID-19 levy.
Speaking during the 2025 budget reading Ato Forson stated, “Mr Speaker, we will abolish the 10% withholding tax on winnings from lottery, otherwise known as the ‘Betting Tax’; we will abolish the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) of 1%; we will abolish the Emission Levy on industries and vehicles; we will abolish the VAT on motor vehicle insurance policy; and we will abolish the 1.5% withholding tax on winning of unprocessed gold by small-scale miners”.
“Mr. Speaker, the removal of these taxes will ease the burden on households and improve their disposable incomes. In addition, it will support business growth and improve tax compliance”, he added.
The Minority has accused the government’s 2025 Fiscal Policy, saying the Mahama government has lied about key tax reforms introduced in the 2025 budget.
Addressing the media after the presentation of the 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, former Finance Minister, Dr. Amin Adam, accused the government of deceiving Ghanaians by announcing the abolition of VAT on motor insurance and betting tax.
He argued that these taxes were never implemented under the previous NPP administration, making their so-called removal misleading.
“Betting tax that they claim to have abolished, we never collected it. It was never implemented. So, telling Ghanaians that you have removed something that never existed is pure deception,” he stated.
Ato Forson further reacted to Amin Adam’s comments on JOYNEWS, Ato Forson stated, “I don’t think he is on top of that matter, because my checks reveal, that it was implemented, in the second half of 2024, and my check also revealed that, to date, the government of Ghana has collected over GHS80 million from betting tax.
So I don’t know what he is talking about it is not the fact, the facts on the ground do not support his assertion. The betting tax was implemented”.
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