The Member of Parliament (MP) for Tano North, Dr. Gideon Boako, has opined that it is likely the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) will introduce new taxes in the first budget that will be presented by the Finance Minister.
According to him, this is the only option available to the government if it abolishes the tax on betting winnings and scraps the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy).
This comes after the Finance Minister-designate, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson noted that the betting tax will be abolished in his first budget once his appointment is approved.
Speaking on Monday, January 13, when he appeared before the Appointment Committee of Parliament for vetting, Dr. Ato Forson insisted that the betting tax is a nuisance tax that must be withdrawn.
For Dr. Gideon Boako, scrapping the tax will create a revenue shortfall that the NDC will need to introduce another tax to make up for.
Speaking to GHOne TV, the MP for Tano North shared that it is likely the new taxes that will be introduced by the new government will be higher than the betting tax and e-levy.
“Listening to the Minister he is trying to be the normal politician. They want to please the public and say that yes we said we are going to scrap the betting tax, we are going to scrap e-levy and we have done so. That politically they can do that. But what is the consequence? The consequence is that there will be a revenue shortfall and as indicated in the IMF programme, even in our debt sustainability analysis, you have to match your debt service burden with revenue. If you scrap the taxes you are losing revenue.
“How are you going to increase revenue? So you have to introduce another tax. If they cancel the betting tax, e-levy, they will still introduce another tax and mark it on the wall, watch out for this budget, by the time it comes, if they scrap all of these you will see them introducing another tax. Unfortunately, if we are not lucky they are going to be higher taxes,” Dr. Gideon Boako argued.