An Economist, Dr Theo Acheampong has stated that there will be minimal impact on public finances when the e-levy and Covid levy are removed.
In his analysis of these two taxes, he explained that together, they raised GHS3.259 billion or USD 296 million in 2023, accounting for 2.4% of total domestic revenue or 0.4% of Ghana’s 2023 Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
To put things into context, he said, this is about as much as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) normally gives Ghana for completing a successful review of the current ongoing programme (2023-2026).
“These two taxes can easily be scrapped. In my view, scraping them would have a limited impact on public finances but bring significant relief to many citizens and businesses,” he wrote on his X page.
His comments come in the wake of the concerns raised about the pledge by President-elect John Dramani Mahama to scrap some taxes.
Ahead of the 2024 general elections, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate promised to scrap several taxes within his first 100 days in office, arguing that these taxes burdened Ghanaians.
The taxes include the e-levy, COVID levy, 10% levy on betting, emissions levy, and import duty on vehicles and equipment imported for industrial and agricultural purposes.
Some analysts, for instance, Chief Executive Officer of Dalex Finance, Joe Jackson, raised concerns about how the incoming Mahama administration will generate revenue for development if it removes all the taxes it has promised to abolish.
Jackson highlighted the significant challenges in managing the economy, particularly with the manifesto pledge to remove certain taxes, including the e-levy.
Speaking on TV3 on Friday, December 13, Jackson said, “Let us not be mistaken, in 2025, we have to look at how we are performing in terms of revenue because some of the items are going to go out. There has been a manifesto commitment to take out the e-levy, betting tax, the COVID levy. So a lot of issues are going to come out and I have no doubt in my mind that the challenge is going to be huge.”
But Dr Theo Acheampong in his writeup on X said “I played around this morning with Ghana’s fiscal data (only ‘data gbees’ like Snr @SethTerkper @CallmeAlfredo, @patrickkwabena, myself and others I know where to find this) from the Ministry of Finance website.
“So, let’s focus on the E-levy and COVID-19 levy, two consumer taxes that irk many Ghanaians and for which both the NDC and NPP promised to do something about, besides other tax handles.
The E-Transaction Levy raised GHS1.151 billion in 2023, while the COVID-19 Health Levy raised GHS2.108 billion in 2023. Together, the two raised GHS3.259 billion or USD 296 million in 2023, accounting for 2.4% of total domestic revenue or 0.4% of Ghana’s 2023 GDP. Let’s round this figure to 3% of total domestic revenue for argument’s sake.
“To put things into context, this is about as much as the IMF normally gives us for completing a successful review of the current ongoing program (2023-2026).
“These two taxes can easily be scrapped. In my view, scraping them would have a limited impact on public finances but bring significant relief to many citizens and businesses. NB: I will update the figures once I have the betting tax and emissions levy data.”