We’ll abolish betting tax, COVID-19 levy, E-levy - Mahama reaffirms
The flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has affirmed that his government would abolish the 10 per cent betting tax, the COVID-19 levy and the electronic levy (E-levy) when elected as President.
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He said the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government’s introduction of those taxes was not in the interest of local businesses, taxpayers and, especially, young people who had resorted to betting to survive due to unemployment.
“I know the betting tax is a matter which is of great concern to the youth. I will reiterate that we will remove the betting tax, and the E-levy as well.
“We know that the government had signed agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) using the betting tax, COVID-19 and E-levy as revenue handles, but we will abolish them and look for other alternatives like the property tax which can give us 10 times more than what we get from E-levy,” Mr Mahama added.
The former President was answering a series of questions from young people at a Youth Townhall meeting at the Bukom Boxing Arena in Accra last Monday evening as part of the International Youth Day celebration.
The meeting was to afford the former president the opportunity to listen to the concerns of the youth and also clarify some of the youth-focused policies contained in the NDC manifesto.
Accountability
The flag bearer of the NDC further gave an assurance that his government would hold all appointees in the current administration accountable for any misappropriation of public funds.
He said the demands for prosecution of corrupt government appointees was a national cry of young people who statistics had shown had lost faith in the country’s democracy over the years due to incessant corruption and the lack of accountability.
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“The call to root out corruption and to punish people who have misappropriated public funds is a call from the soul of the nation that we must put our foot down to address, because the youth are crying for opportunities.
“The youth are losing faith in our democracy. They are tired of being unemployed and hungry when they can see that the public resource that belongs to all of us is being corralled and squandered by a few people,” Mr Mahama added.
He equally warned members of the NDC who would be part of his government to be mindful of their conduct when given public office.
The former President said that they would equally be prosecuted when found culpable in a corruption case, adding that he would not be a “clearing agent” who would gloss over corruption and clear perpetrators of corruption or wrongdoing.
Migration
The flag bearer also expressed worry over the rate of exodus of young people from the country to seek greener pastures, saying such situations were leading to brain drain in the country.
He said although migration in itself was not a bad idea, it should be done in an organised manner to afford trained professionals who could be assisted by the government to work in other countries on contract basis to also generate revenue for the nation, including experience and return home to serve.
The former President said his government would employ ideas similar to the Philippines’ who generate US$30 billion annually through the export of skilled citizens to work in other countries.
He said the country had abundant employable youth who could be trained and enrolled as part of organised migration to work in other parts of the world to make a living for themselves as well as generate revenue for the country through remittances and other means.
