Finance analyst, Joe Jackson, has said the government is going to face a difficult task having to balance its proposed tax cuts with the demands of Ghanaians.
He says the government has made many promises in its manifesto which it seeks to fulfill for Ghanaians, whilst promising to abolish some taxes which will affect the revenue generation of the administration.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of Dalex Finance, government revenue is going to drop by about GHC7 billion without simplifying the Value Added Tax (VAT), per his findings from an estimate from some reputable accounting firms.
Speaking on TV3’s Ghana Tonight Monday, March 10, 2025, Mr. Jackson indicated that it is going to be a hard task for the government.
“This particular budget is going to be an act of balancing. Balancing in the promises that they made in the manifesto of taking away taxes, e-levy, betting tax, simplifying VAT.
“It will reduce the revenue and yet Ghanaians want things done and when you take the desire to take away taxes, with the absolute commitment of the regime and the Finance Minister to keep expenditure and fiscal deficits low, then you have a very high wire balancing up. This one is like running a wire between two ends of ‘Job 600’ and trying to balance, it is not going to be easy.
“It’s going to be a really hard job because you take away these taxes and revenue is going to fall. I’ve seen estimates by reputable top four accounting companies that says that we are losing up to GHC7billion in the headline taxes we are taking away,” Mr. Jackson indicated.
The comments come on the back of the government’s decision to abolish some taxes including the Electronic transaction levy (E-levy), betting tax and the Covid levy which were introduced by the erstwhile Akufo-Addo administration.
Despite the numerous calls by Ghanaians to remove the taxes to bring them some relief, the then administration ignored. But then candidate Mahama promised to scrap them and has insisted doing so after winning the election.
The Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, will be presenting the budget today, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in Parliament where many Ghanaians expect the abolishment of these taxes.
Communications Minister confirms scrapping of E-levy, Covid levy ahead of 2025 budget presentation
