President John Dramani Mahama has stated that the government is prioritising improved tax collection and compliance instead of introducing new taxes as part of efforts to increase domestic revenue mobilisation.

According to the President, the government's tax policy is focused on making revenue collection more efficient while reducing the tax burden on individuals and businesses through reforms to the existing tax regime.

He noted that the government has already abolished several taxes that attracted widespread public criticism, including the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) and the COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy, while also taking steps to rationalise other taxes.

“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,” he said.

President Mahama explained that the current priority is to strengthen tax administration and eliminate leakages within the revenue collection system rather than impose additional taxes.

“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.

The President further indicated that sustained improvements in tax collection could pave the way for future tax reductions, particularly for businesses, to encourage investment and expansion.

“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 added.

President Mahama made the remarks during a courtesy call by the Kwahu Business Advocacy Group at the Jubilee House on Wednesday, July 8.