Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson refutes claims on betting tax implementation

Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has refuted claims that the previous NPP government failed to implement the 10% withholding tax on betting winnings.

On Tuesday, Dr. Forson included the 10% withholding tax as one of the taxes to be abolished in the 2025 budget statement.

Following the budget reading, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adams, former Finance Minister under the NPP government, asserted that the betting tax was never implemented.

“Betting tax that they said they have abolished, we never collected Betting Tax. So to come and tell Ghanaians that you have abolished something that you have not implemented, is to deceive the people of Ghana.” Amin Adams said.

In a swift response, Dr. Ato Forson appeared on PM Express on the JoyNews channel on Tuesday night, where he debunked those claims.

”I don’t think he is on top of that matter because my checks reveal that it was implemented in the second half of 2024,” he said.

“My checks also reveal that year to date, government of Ghana has collected GH₵ 80 million from the betting tax. So I don’t know what he is talking about. It is not the fact.”

In September 2023, Edward Gyambra of the Domestic Tax Revenue Division of the GRA stated that the authority had recorded GH₵ 15 million in monthly betting taxes, with projections indicating that the amount could rise to GH₵ 60 million by the end of the football season.

”During the first month of implementation, we averaged GH¢20 million for the GGR. As for the withholding tax, we’ve just started the betting season, but during the lean season, we averaged GH¢15 million. We anticipate this to quadruple by May,” he concluded.