The finance minister-designate, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, has announced plans by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration to remove both the E-Levy and the Betting tax in its first budget if he js approved to head the ministry.
He pointed out that having campaigned against the implementation of both taxes while in opposition, he will ensure they are scrapped and further argued that, both taxes hinder economic progress.
“My position on the E-levy is well known and I do not intend to run from it. I have written articles against the e-levy, I championed the position against the e-levy and I still stand by them. The e-levy is neither a direct tax, an indirect tax, or an excise tax. I insist that the betting tax must be abolished and as Finance Minister, I will abolish it in my first budget because it has failed,” he told the committee in response to a question.
Dr. Forson stressed “I don’t know how to classify the e-levy as a tax practitioner. It doesn’t mean that I do not recognise that the levy brings in a certain amount of revenue, but the fact remains, e-levy retards the progress towards a cashless economy. We need to abolish it.”
He reiterated his NDC government’s commitment to removing these taxes within its 120 days in office.
“I have said that given the opportunity, I will abolish the e-levy. I want to restate that position that if approved, as part of the first budget, I will announce that we will abolish the levy as part of our first budget. Recognising the commitment H.E. John Dramani Mahama said that as part of his 120-day agenda, we will abolish the e-levy, and we stand by that.”
