Former President John Mahama has criticized the ongoing taxation in Ghana related to COVID-19, stating that the country is still burdened with taxes for a pandemic that has since passed.
Speaking at the Mahama Youth Town Hall on Monday, August 12, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer expressed concern that Ghanaians who endured and survived the pandemic are now being unfairly taxed.
“Ghana is the only country I know that is still being taxed for a pandemic that has passed,” Mahama remarked.
He explained that the COVID tax, a value-added tax introduced by the government to increase revenue, remains in place despite political parties’ promises to abolish it.
According to Mahama, the government has included the COVID tax as part of its revenue commitments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“It’s part of the IMF agreement. As part of their agreement with the IMF to increase revenue, they’ve locked COVID inside.
“So, if you come and want to take the COVID tax out, it means you’re not fulfilling the agreement with the IMF,” Mahama noted.
Mahama further stated that his next government would rationalize these taxes and explore other avenues for tax collection, aiming to expand the tax net and eliminate what he referred to as “obnoxious” taxes.
“One of the taxes that is not performing is the E-Levy. They said the E-Levy would solve every problem in this country. Unfortunately, it’s not performing well,” the former president added.
Source: Prince Adu-Owusu
