The NPP Minority in Parliament has vowed to provide truthful information to the Ghanaian people on the affairs of the nation and described the ongoing National Economic Dialogue, in Accra as intended to whitewash the unfounded claims of the mismanagement of the economy under the erstwhile NPP administration. According to the NPP, the government is scaring the people of Ghana further by putting out unaudited outstanding claims on the government, and they have promised to expose what they called “the mischief in these claims”. Presenting to the Journalists what they referred to as “The True State Of The Nation” addressed by the former Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam NDCC believed that, these unholy moves by the NDC were intended to buy time to cover for its incompetence in managing the economy and to establish the basis for increasing taxes and introducing new taxes in the 2025 Budget Statement, even as they are promising to scrap E-Levy, COVID-Levy and others. “Does it make sense to scrap E-levy and betting tax, and replace them with new taxes on the mining, telecommunication, financial sector, and real estate industries, which will all be passed on to customers?”, he asked. The former Minister asked Ghanaians to wait for the “deception of the NDC government when they present the 2025 budget – taxes galore! This is how they intend to tax Ghanaians to collect their target of GHS200 billion in tax revenues this year”. He said, “this government accused us of overtaxing the people of Ghana because by the end of 2024, the NPP administration collected GHS152.9 billion which is 17% tax to GDP ratio taking it from President Mahama’s 13% in 2016. How do you then turn around to expect to collect GHS200 billion in a broken economy?” They however raised a red flag and stressed the fact, that “the Mighty Minority will join the people of Ghana to resist any attempt to smuggle in new taxes or increase existing taxes. We owe it a duty to hold the government accountable for its promises to the people of Ghana”. “As a country, we have come a long way, working closely with our key stakeholders including the IMF, World Bank, the African Development Bank, bilateral partners, domestic and international investors; and more importantly, the Ghanaian people who have sacrificed so much to see us get this far”, he added. by Edzorna Francis Mensah
