National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has reiterated that the party is vehemently opposed to the government’s 10% charge on bet winnings which was introduced on August 15, 2023.
He says contrary to the propaganda being churned out by NPP loyalists, the NDC’s intent to tax sports betting was to imitate the United Kingdom approach where levies are placed on betting companies rather than individual winnings as the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is doing.
In a release issued Thursday, August 17, 2023, to clarify an explanation he made in relation to how the NDC wanted to fund the Sports Development Fund, he noted the party intended to adopt the approach in the UK rather than the lazy man’s approach the NPP has introduced in Ghana.
He has explained that the hardship in the country created by the NPP government leaves the youth no choice than to rely on sports betting for survival, making the 10% tax “insensitive and unacceptable.”
Sammy Gyamfi says the government is wicked and cruel to have introduced such approach of raising revenue.
“For the sake of clarity and emphasis, the NDC is vehemently opposed to the 10% tax that has been imposed by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government on bet winnings” giving reasons as stated below;
- Sports betting although undesirable, has become a necessary evil given the state of hopelessness, joblessness and excruciating hardships that Ghanaian youths have been plunged into by the insensitive and reckless Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government.
- Taxing bet winnings under the current excruciating economic conditions Ghanaians are facing, particularly, the high rate of inflation of 43.1% and the highest unemployment rate among others, is insensitive and totally unacceptable.
- Government should be innovative in its bid to increase tax revenue and stop this lazy approach to taxation. If government is minded to raise tax revenue from betting, its focus should be on taxing multinational/foreign bet companies as it pertains in the UK and other jurisdictions and not poor Ghanaian youths who have been compelled by the harsh economic conditions in the country to seek refuge in sports betting for their very survival.
- More importantly, the new 10% tax on bet winnings introduced by the NPP contravenes the government’s social contract with Ghanaians. That social contract is to the effect that; “taxation is a lazy approach to governance” and that an NPP government will “reduce the tax burden on Ghanaians” and move the country from “taxation to production”. Contrary to this promise, the current NPP government has introduced over 25 tax handles since they took office in 2017- a clear betrayal of the trust of Ghanaians. These taxes have conspired to make life unbearable for the vast majority of Ghanaians, particularly the youths who can’t find jobs.
The NDC will not and cannot lend its support to the double-standards the NPP continuous to display relative to taxation, particularly at this time of unprecedented hardships.
- Undoubtedly, Sports Betting has become a refuge for the millions of Ghanaian unemployed youths who have been compelled by the economic mismanagement of the NPP to depend on betting for survival. Imposing a 10% tax on bet winnings is therefore cruel. Given the difficult times we find ourselves in, the NDC fully supports calls for the immediate scrapping of the newly introduced 10% tax on bet winnings.
This is the official position of the great NDC on the newly-introduced 10% tax on bet winnings.
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