President John Dramani Mahama has restated his administration’s commitment to increasing domestic revenue through better tax collection and compliance rather than levying new taxes.
The President stated that the government’s recent tax reforms are intended to lessen the burden on Ghanaians while enhancing the effectiveness of the nation’s revenue mobilisation system during a courtesy call by the Kwahu Business Advocacy Group at the Jubilee House on Wednesday, July 8, 2026.
He pointed out that while work are ongoing to streamline and rationalise the tax system, the administration has already eliminated a number of fees that many Ghanaians felt were onerous, including as the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) and the COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy.
“We’ve removed some of the taxes that Ghanaians described as nuisance taxes. The COVID levy is gone, the E-Levy is gone, and we’re working to rationalise the other taxes. Overall, the indirect taxes, which are value-added taxes, have come down from 21 percent to 20 percent,” President Mahama said.
The President emphasised that rather than enacting new taxes, the government’s immediate priorities are bolstering tax administration, enhancing compliance, and removing revenue collection leakages.
“Now, we’re concentrating on efficiency in collecting the taxes because we believe that if we collect the taxes more efficiently, we don’t need to introduce new taxes.
“What we’re concentrating on is efficiency in collecting the taxes, and I’m sure that if we collect the taxes more efficiently and the government is making more revenue, we can begin to bring down the incidence of tax and the burden on our people,” he stated.
President Mahama expressed optimism that long-term increases in tax revenue may eventually free up funds for additional tax cuts, especially for corporations.
He said that the corporate income tax rate might be lowered, enabling companies to keep more money for growth, investment, and job creation, provided the government’s revenue collection becomes noticeably more efficient over the next two to three years.
“I believe that in a few years, if in the next two or three years our efficiency in collecting taxes is improving, there is no reason why we can’t reduce the corporate income tax and bring it lower so that business people can be able to reinvest some of the money that they pay to the government,” he continued.
Source: newsthemegh.com