The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is countering concerns regarding revenue shortfalls following the abolition of the E-Levy, COVID-19 levy, and betting tax, citing robust collections in early 2026 that have surpassed expectations.
This development contradicts assumptions that eliminating these taxes would substantially weaken government revenue amidst growing pressure to identify new fiscal buffers.
At a forum hosted by the Centre for Policy Scrutiny, Elsie Appau Klu, Technical Advisor to the Commissioner-General of the GRA, suggested that although the tax removals were initially perceived as a setback, the outcome has proven more complex.
She posited that “initially, like any person would think, yes, of course, abolishing these three taxes was considered a loss to the government, and it put some pressure on our staff.”
According to her, “This first quarter we have achieved 20% more than what we’ve collected last year… the GRA… has collected 33.7 billion Ghana cedis, which is 20% more than what we collected when you compare it to the figures of the same first quarter of last year.”
Her remarks were in response to a presentation of a paper by tax analyst Isaac Danso Agyiri.
Mr Danso Agyiri had called for the reintroduction of the scrapped taxes to boost domestic revenue, estimating potential gains of up to GHS18 billion by 2027.
