The government is likely to introduce new taxes on key sectors, including financial services, as it seeks alternative revenue streams in its maiden budget statement scheduled for March 11, 2025.

The move follows the promise by the Mahama administration to abolish the 1% E-Levy, the COVID-19 levy, and the 10% levy on betting winnings. Areas such as mining, telecom, and real estate could face fresh levies as hinted by former Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam.

These anticipated fiscal measures are expected to feature prominently in the maiden by the new administration.

The abolition of these taxes, as promised by the government within its first 100 days in office, particularly the E-Levy and COVID-19 tax, is projected to result in a total revenue loss of GHC 22.15 billion between this year and 2027.

The E-Levy, originally forecast to generate GHC 2.1 billion last year, is now expected to yield GHC 2.4 billion in 2025, while the COVID-19 levy is projected to contribute GHC 3.97 billion, up from GHC 3.1 billion last year.

While the government has assured there will be no new taxes in the upcoming budget, tax analysts believe otherwise. Francis Timore-Boi noted: “Last time they reduced the communication service tax to five per cent maybe they want to touch a little bit there and see how they can reap a little more.

“You and I know that they keep promising that the e-levy will go the total revenue for 2024 is around Ghc 2.4 billion and so I think that when they take it off; this VAT on financial services can come in to cover the revenue that we may lose from the e-levy.”.

Timore Boi called on the government to engage with stakeholders from the sectors likely to be affected by the imposition of new levies.

“In terms of going forward, I think the advice will be that you are taking some of the exemptions away, there could be some resistance so by now the expectation is that you should have engaged or thrown it out there for those who will be affected to start discussing the impact and so stakeholder engagement I think it’s very key to engage the people.

Again, as the Ghana Revenue Authority is going to embark on compliance, there’s the likelihood that there will be some friction. People may see compliance measures as intimidation, so we expect some fruitful engagement by the tax authorities,” he noted.

Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA), Samuel Amegayibor, has petitioned the Minister of Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, urging him to reconsider the proposed five per cent value added tax (VAT) on immovable properties, calling for more targeted and equitable taxation measures.