The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has stated that it would have scrapped the 10% betting tax had it won the December 7, 2024, general elections.

The Director of Communications for the NPP, Richard Ahiagbah, stated that removing the tax was a key campaign promise of the party.

“We (NPP) would have been removing this tax if we had won the elections. We would have removed it. We want to remove it and we support them (NDC) to remove it,” he said on JoyNews Upfront on Wednesday, March 12.

• Read also: Bawumia promises to abolish E-Levy and betting tax

He also acknowledged the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for fulfilling this promise.

“There’s no quibble about that,” he stated, expressing the NPP's backing for the repeal.

However, Mr Ahiagbah cautioned against conflating different tax policies, calling for clarity in statements made by the Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson.

• Read also: 2025 Budget: E-levy, betting tax and others to be abolished – Finance Minister

He stated that the Finance Minister may have mistakenly confused the betting tax with the 10% withholding tax on lottery winnings when he announced the government's decision to abolish the betting tax.

“If the minister in typing the statement inadvertently confused the two, let that be clarified. We are not arguing about anything else,” he added.

His comments come after Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson presented the 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, in which he announced the abolition of several taxes, including the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy), COVID-19 Levy, and betting tax.

"We have programmed the following taxes for removal in line with our manifesto promises. Mr Speaker, we will abolish the 10% tax on winning from lottery," Dr Forson said.

"The government will also eliminate the 10% withholding tax on betting, the emission levy, and the VAT on motor vehicle insurance policies."

• Read also: 2025 Budget: We never collected Betting Tax – Former Finance Minister

However, speaking at a press conference by the Minority, the former Finance Minister, Mohammed Amin Adam described the claim as unconscionable, insisting that the betting tax was never collected under his administration.

“Betting tax that they said they have abolished, we never collected Betting Tax. So to come and tell Ghanaians that you have abolished something that you have not implemented, is to deceive the people of Ghana.”

The betting tax, introduced under the previous government, imposed a 10% withholding tax on winnings from sports betting and lottery.

In August 2024, the then-presidential candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, reiterated his commitment to abolish the controversial E-Levy and betting tax if elected President in the just-ended general elections.

"We’ll also reduce Withholding Tax for small-scale gold exports to 1% to curb smuggling, and abolish the Betting Tax,” Dr. Bawumia promised during the party's manifesto launch in Takoradi on August 18, 2024.