Three new taxes already existed – Oppong-Nkrumah

Minister of Information Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah has stated that the three tax bills that were passed by Parliament on March 31, 2023 were already existing taxes that needed amendments.

According to him, the notion that these taxes were new and will cause hardships and overburden Ghanaians is not true.

Last week, parliament passed three revenue bills namely the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, the Excise Duty and Excise Tax Stamp (Amendment) Bill, and the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill.

Government however believes that the implementation of the these revenue bills will rake in about GH¢4 billion annually to support domestic revenue mobilisation.

The information minister on his part explained that the tax measures have been expanded to make room for some other components to be added to the scope of the taxes.

Oppong-Nkrumah told Asaase Radio that “…These three revenue bills that have just been passed by Parliament are actually not three new taxes.”

“The Income Tax Act already exists; the Excise Duty Levy Act already exists and the Fiscal Responsibility Act already exists. The view of the fiscal policy managers is that there are some categories of persons and some transactions that are not covered by these already existing acts.

“And therefore, it is important to expand the base and include those ones in these already existing revenue measures,” Oppong-Nkrumah added.