The Member of Parliament for Tano North, Dr. Gideon Boako, has voiced his concerns regarding the potential introduction of new taxes by the John Dramani Mahama-led government in response to the removal of the betting tax and e-levy.
Dr. Boako’s remarks come after statements made by Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the Finance Minister-Designate, who indicated that the Mahama administration plans to eliminate these taxes in its initial budget and offset the resulting revenue shortfall through expenditure cuts.
In an interview with Citi News, Dr. Boako expressed skepticism about the compatibility of these proposed measures with the fiscal policies established with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He cautioned that such changes could disrupt the country’s financial obligations and advised against the implementation of new taxes as the optimal solution to address the revenue deficit.
“We don’t want a situation whereby you give with your left hand and you take with your right hand. They have to be explicit. If they are cutting the taxes, they cut the taxes, they don’t introduce any new taxes, you cannot cancel or scrap e-levy, scrap betting tax, and go behind and create another tax to fill the gap.
“If they indeed want to scrap e-levy, betting tax, the COVID-19, the emission taxes, the only other thing they can do in order to match up with the debt service to revenue ratio as enshrined in the IMF programme and captured in the debt sustainability analysis is to have another tax introduced through the back door to make up for the shortfall. Other than that they do not have any other room.”
