The Member of Parliament for Tano North, Dr. Gideon Boako, has expressed concern about the potential introduction of new taxes by the John Dramani Mahama-led administration following its plans to abolish the betting tax and e-levy.
Dr. Boako’s remarks were in response to statements made by Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the Finance Minister-Designate, who indicated that the Mahama government would eliminate these taxes in its first budget and offset the revenue shortfall through expenditure cuts.
Speaking to the media, Dr. Boako questioned whether these proposed measures align with the fiscal policies agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He cautioned that such adjustments could undermine the country’s financial commitments and suggested that introducing new taxes might not be the most effective way to address the revenue deficit.
“So you may cut expenditure, but your debt service will be matched with revenue, which is a key component of the IMF program. So when you scrap the taxes, there’s a revenue shortfall. You need an increased revenue to match the debt service better. It is not a matter of expenditure. So how do you then increase revenue to make up for the shortfalls that you have created by scrapping the taxes? The only thing you can go around is to introduce another tax,” he said.
