Finance Minister presents bills to repeal e-levy, other taxes

The Minister for Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, is set to present bills to Parliament for the removal of several taxes outlined in the 2025 budget and economic statement.

According to the Order Paper for the 32nd sitting of Parliament on Thursday, March 13, the proposed bills include the Electronic Transfer Levy (Repeal) Bill, 2025 and the Emissions Levy (Repeal) Bill, 2025.

Other bills listed for amendment are the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2025, Revenue Administration (Amendment) Bill, 2025, Special Import Levy (Amendment) Bill, 2025, Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2025, Growth and Sustainability Levy (Amendment) Bill, 2025, and the Earmarked Funds Capping and Realignment (Amendment) Bill, 2025.

http://cdn.modernghana.com/images/content/313202543449-8cs1wjivup-order-paper.jpg

Earlier, Dr. Ato Forson reaffirmed the government’s commitment to scrapping what he describes as “nuisance taxes” introduced by the previous administration.

The planned tax removals include the betting tax, E-Levy, emissions tax, VAT on motor vehicle insurance policies, and the 1.5% withholding tax on winnings from unprocessed gold by small-scale miners.

Presenting the 2025 budget to Parliament on Tuesday, March 11, Dr. Ato Forson stated that the move aims to ease the financial burden on households and businesses.

To address the revenue shortfall from these tax cuts, he explained that reducing the tax refund ceiling from 6% to 4% would generate GH¢3.8 billion, which would help cover the losses from the E-Levy (GH¢1.9 billion) and the betting tax (GH¢180 million).

“We have already saved GH¢3.8 billion for 2025 alone from just one source, and this is enough to close the gap created by the taxes we have removed,” he assured.