Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Ajumako Enyan Essiam, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has described promises by the Vice President and flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party to scrap some recently introduced taxes should he become president in 2025 as a vindication of the NDC minority group.
Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia last month while announcing his vision for the country should he be elected president promised to scrap a number of taxes introduced by his own government.
“To move towards a cashless economy, however, we have to encourage the population to use electronic channels of payment. To accomplish this, there will be no taxes on digital payments under my administration. The e-levy will, therefore, be abolished,” he told party faithful at the UPSA auditorium
“The new policies that I am proposing to implement in 2025 will give us the fiscal space to eliminate some taxes such as the VAT on electricity, the emissions tax and the betting tax without compromising our deficit target,” the Vice President added.
But concluding his debate on the State of the Nation, Minority leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson presented what he described as “the true state of the nation and his scorecard of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government says the U-turn in the tax policies vindicates the NDC.
“Mr. Speaker, after marshaling its numbers in Parliament and urging them to fight tooth and nail to pass the regressive, punitive, draconian and insensitive taxes, the key architect behind the taxes has indicated his readiness to abolish these same taxes in the future.”
“After bulldozing its way through with these taxes in Parliament, the government has finally
come around to appreciate the NDC’s opposition to these taxes. This is a huge vindication of the
Minority’s position,” he stated.
The Minority Leader subsequently has served notice the NDC will soon present a private member’s bills pushing for the scrapping of the taxes.
“On behalf of the NDC Minority Caucus, I am serving notice that we will bring a Private Member’s Bill to remove these taxes, including E-levy, emission tax, and betting tax,” he disclosed.
“The government has finally agreed with us to abolish these taxes, except that while Dr Bawumia wants that done in the future, the NDC Minority Caucus wants the removal of the taxes now!”, he insisted.
Dr. Ato Forson has also taken a swipe at Dr. Bawumia accusing him of fleeing from discourses around the economy.
“Mr Speaker, you recall the infamous “if the fundamentals are weak, the exchange rate will
expose you”. Today, one of the major sources of concern for many Ghanaians is the exchange rate. Yet those who gave lectures on the so-called Restoring the Value of the Cedi and claimed to have the magic wand to fix the exchange rate have gone mute on the economy.”, he mocked.
“After hyping his questionable “competence” and readiness to get a handle on the exchange
rate, he has fled from the economy. Alhaji Bawumia would rather speak on any subject matter other than the economy. He has abandoned his so-called claim of superior knowledge of the management of the economy. Mr Speaker, he could not live up to the hype. The exchange rate has exposed him big,” the former deputy finance minister asserted.
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