[ 2021-03-17 ]

Don’t tax sports betting, ban it – Ato Forson to government
Ranking Member on Parliament’s Committee on
Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has called on the
government to ban sports betting rather than
imposing taxes on the sector.

He believes the activity is destroying the
Ghanaian youth and must be restricted rather than
taxing the gaming industry.



“Ghana today, we are complaining that this
gambling is destroying our youth. I have read a
number of articles on this. I would have thought
the government will come out with a policy to
restrict gambling and to even ban it,” he
said.https://cdn.jwplayer.com/players/bWm8KUdL-bOZsmy48.html

Speaking on JoyNews Monday, the Former Deputy
Finance Minister said the government should not
over-focus on revenue mobilisation to the
detriment of citizens.

Dr Ato Forson indicated that, “to run a country
is not all about money. You need to preserve
society as well.”

The government in its 2021 Budget presented to
Parliament estimated an annual revenue loss of
over GHS 300 million due to leakages in the gaming
industry.

The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry for the
Interior have been tasked to co-supervise the
gaming industry and consult with stakeholders to
formulate a comprehensive policy to improve
revenue mobilisation from this source.

But the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Finance
Committee is proposing that government leverages
the Tax Exemption Bill instead of taxing
individuals and businesses.

“Exemption Bill alone can rake in 2.5% of GDP.
Instead of government of Ghana going back to push
that Exemption Bill; they have decided to tax us
because that is easy” the MP for
Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam said.

Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
disagrees with the banning of gaming companies in
the country. According to him, gambling has not
been one of the activities proscribed by law in
Ghana but rather government may exert higher level
of taxes on the sector just as it imposes on
commodities such as tobacco and alcohol.

“Government is saying that, it is noticeable
that the gambling space is opened up with a lot of
online betting platforms. Just like it does with
the National Lottery Authority, it will like to
ensure that the proper taxes are accrued from
there. It will be double standards if you are
allowing NLA and banning all of these one.” MP
for Ofoase-Ayirebi said.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah is skeptical about the prospect
of leveraging Tax Exemption Bill as a revenue
mobilisation mechanism.

He, however, proposed rolling out of Physical
Electronic Devices tax as one of the surest way
for the state to raise revenue.

Source - 3 News

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