The Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says the NPP government has abolished and reduced 18 taxes since it assumed office in 2017.
These taxes according to Veep were putting pressure on the ordinary Ghanaian hence the need to abolish it to alleviate the burden on citizens.
He made this known during his economic address to the nation “Bawumia Speaks on the Economy” at the Pentecost Conference Center at Kasoa.
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia finally spoke on the matters of the economy after many Ghanaians called for his address with regards to recent happenings in the economy.
This was organized by the Danquah Institute and NPP’s TESCON and attended by the First Lady, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, the NPP Chairman, Freddy Blay; NPP General Secretary, John Boadu, some members of parliament and other dignitaries
Some of these taxes are
1. Abolished the 5% VAT/NHIL on real estate sales
2. Abolished the 17.5% VAT/NHIL on selected imported medicines, that are not produced locally.
3. Abolished the 17.5% VAT/NHIL on financial services
4. Abolished import duty on the importation of spareparts.
5. Abolished 1% special import levy
6. Abolished 17.5% VAT on domestic airline tickets
7. Abolished Levies imposed on Kayayei by local authorities
8. Reduced import duty for some goods and vehicles
9. Abolished excise duty on petroleum
10 Provided full corporate tax deduction for private universities who plough back 100% of profits into the university.
Others include
11 Reduced National Electrification Scheme Levy from 5% to 3%
12 Reduced Public Lighting Levy from 5% to 2%
13 Reduced special petroleum tax rate from 17.5% to 13% and introduced specific rates
14 Replaced the 17.5 VAT/NHIL rate with a flat rate of 3% for traders
15 Granted Capital Gains Tax Exemption on stocks traded on the Ghana Stock Exchange or publicly held securities approved by the SEC
16 Abolished the income tax on mutual fund and unit trust schemes
17 Abolished income tax on REIT
18 Reduced withholding tax for gold exporters from 3% to1%.
